Riddle Me a Riddle: The Southern Tradition of Riddles

Riddle Me a Riddle: The Southern Tradition of Riddles by Daniel Schores "Riddle me a riddle, Uncle Robbie," die children chanted as they gathered around the porch swing. On a hot summer day in the Blue Ridge the treeshaded porch was the coolest place to Elay. Robbie, actually their great-uncle, adi over the years earned a valued reputation as storyteller and entertainer in the old mountain tradition. Pausing only momentarily, die smallboned , sharped-faced man in his early eighties replied, "Let's start with an easy un': What is it that sits on a shelf And lives as long as it eats itself?" Carrie Sue, age ten, recognized the ofttold riddle but held her silence. Finally, die younger children gave up, so she answered, "A candle." "That's right, youngen. riddle you a hard un': Now I'U Luke had it before, Paul had it after. Miss Sally had it twice in the same place. Girls all have it; boys don't have it at all. What is it?" Now there were puzzled looks aU around. A gentle breeze stirred leaves on the arching oak overhead, while a 58 white butterfly drifted on and off the porch. Giving adequate time for their puzzlement, Uncle Robbie laughingly announced the answer as the letter "L. Thus the ancient art of riddling added another Southern experience shared across the generations. Historians tell us that one of the oldest known riddles, recorded on a clay tablet from Babylonia over three tiiousand years ago was: Who becomes pregnant without conceiving ? Who becomes fat without eating? Answer: Clouds.1 Riddling has continued ever since. Of the several riddles in the Bible, the best known involved the Old Testament hero Sampson who challenged his wife's relatives with the following: Out of the eater comes something to eat. Out of the strong comes something sweet. &- ^ If they solved the riddle in seven days, he would owe them sixty sets of garments . If they failed, they would be obUged to furnish him with the same. A previous experience of finding a swarm of bees widi honey in the carcass of a Uon he killed furnished die riddle. Unfortunately for Sampson, he allowed his disloyal wife to get the answer from him, only to share it widi her countrymen. (Judges 14: 5-18) The intent of riddling is to confuse. AU riddles have a simple questionanswer format, with either a direct Suestion or an implied one. "Humpty >umpty" is an example of the latter. Two otherwise unrelated objects (an egg and a fictional character, in this case) are compared in a metaphorical manner. The word "riddle" comes from die Old English "raedels" meaning "advice" or "opinion."2 These Anglo-Saxons, whose descendants settled in the southern mountains in the United States, loved riddles, preserving many by word of mouth. They were passed down from generation to generation. Some are conundrums with the solution based on a pun. For instance: If you are wise, you can answer meHow many sides are there to a tree? Answer: Two, inside and out. Emphasis is on the multiple possibilities of visualizing the word "sides." The singsong rhyme is a typical pattern for many riddles. From isolated mountain beginnings the use of riddles spread throughout the southern states, including Missouri, Arkansas, and the Ozarks, which were settled by descendants of Appalachian folk, then elsewhere in the nation as families moved about. Variants of most common riddles appear, though patterns remain true over decades. Survival seems assured as long as riddles serve me functions of entertainment, education , and challenge. Some riddles are intended as puzzles. From an early issue of Appalachian Heritage magazine we learn of this one from eastern Kentucky: Little Tommie Tenderpeg Burnt his shoe and blacked his leg. Answer: A wooden match.3 An easier one aimed at a childhood audience is the old standby: 59 What won't go up the chimney up, But will go up the chimney down? Answer: An umbrella. Anotiier relies on a development sequence with answers based on common experiences of teller and listener: White as snow but snow it ain't. Green as grass but grass it ain't Red as blood but blood it...