The History of Riddles
People have enjoyed riddles for thousands of years – there’s even one
in the bible, as told by Samson (see Judges 14.14). Samson uses the riddle
in a contest with his enemies the Philistines. Riddles are often found
as a kind of challenge – often deadly.
There are many British folk-songs, for example, in which the singer encounters a stranger who asks riddles. If the singer fails to answer any of the riddles then the stranger reveals himself as the Devil – and the singer falls into his power. Fortunately, most of these songs end with the Devil being thwarted! An example of such a riddle-song can be found at: http://www.loriwatson.co.uk/pdf/riddles.pdf
Perhaps the most familiar modern example of a riddle contest is to be found in J.R.R. Tolkein’s The Hobbit. At the centre of the book, Gollum challenges Bilbo Baggins to a riddle competition. Should Bilbo lose, then he will be eaten. Bilbo wins the competition by asking the riddle, ‘What have I got in my pocket?’ which Gollum cannot answer. (The answer was the One Ring, which Gollum had unknowingly lost and Bilbo had found). This is, as Bilbo acknowledges, a bit of a cheat, as a good riddle always teasingly involves an object which the hearer can be expected to name if they wrack their brains hard enough. However, Samson’s riddle is a bit of a cheat too, so Bilbo could perhaps argue he had the bible on his side!
Not that riddles were always told as part of a deadly challenge. Often they were told just for fun. Perhaps the most famous collection of riddles in English was written down (probably) in about 975 AD. They are found in a book of Anglo-Saxon poetry called the Exeter Book, which was kept in the Cathedral of that city. These riddles were clearly created to give pleasure – several of them are rather rude. Some of them (not the rude ones!) have been adapted for use in this Advent calendar. If you would like to read some of the Exeter riddles then they can be found at this site, which gives the texts in both Anglo-Saxon and modern English: http://www2.kenyon.edu/AngloSaxonRiddles/texts.htm
Riddles continue to be enjoyed on festive occasions today. Many of the corny jokes that are found inside Christmas crackers take the form of punning riddles:
What's orange and sounds like a parrot? A carrot.
What’s black and white and red all over? A Newspaper … or a zebra that doesn’t know how to put lipstick on.
Some of the riddles used in this Advent calendar are traditional and can be found in books of nursery rhymes. Some of the riddles have been written specially for this site. If you would like to write your own, then remember to choose an object which is fair for your intended audience. A riddle works by stripping an object of its name and then re-describing it in a perplexing, but accurate way. There are several websites which are designed to help teachers and pupils create their own riddles.
An interactive guide can be found at:
http://www.readwritethink.org/student_mat/student_material.asp?id=24
A Powerpoint presentation can be found at:
http://www.primaryresources.co.uk/english/powerpoints/riddles_EP.ppt