Editing Riddle (section)

==International riddles==
[[File:Faroe stamp 389 the tree of the year.jpg|right|thumb|Tree of the year – a [[Faroe Islands|Faroese]] stamp depicting a traditional Faroese version of the [[year-riddle]].]]
Many riddles appear in similar form across many countries, and often continents. Borrowing of riddles happens both on a local scale, and across great distances. Kofi Dorvlo gives an example of a riddle that has been borrowed from the [[Ewe language]] by speakers of the neighboring [[Logba language]]: "This woman has not been to the riverside for water, but there is water in her tank". The answer is "a coconut".<ref>Dorvlo, Kofi. "Ewe borrowings into Logba." ''International Journal of Bilingualism'' 18.4 (2014): 428-446.</ref> On a much wider scale, the [[Riddle of the Sphinx]] has also been documented in the [[Marshall Islands]], possibly carried there by Western contacts in the last two centuries.<ref>p. 266.  Davenport, William. 1952. Fourteen Marshallese Riddles. ''The Journal of American Folklore'' Vol. 65, No. 257, pp. 265-266.</ref>

Key examples of internationally widespread riddles follow, based on the classic (European-focused) study by [[Antti Aarne]].<ref name="ReferenceA"/>

=== Writing-riddle ===
The basic form of the [[writing-riddle]] is 'White field, black seeds', where the field is a page and the seeds are letters.<ref>Antti Aarne, ''Vergleichende Rätselforschungen'', 3 vols, Folklore Fellows Communications, 26–28 (Helsinki/Hamina: Suomalainen Tiedeakatemia, 1918–20), I 35–73.</ref> An example is the eighth- or ninth-century [[Veronese Riddle]]:
{{Verse translation|
{{lang|it|Se pareba boves
alba pratalia araba
albo versorio teneba
negro semen seminaba}}
|
In front of him (he) led oxen
White fields (he) ploughed
A white plough (he) held
A black seed (he) sowed.}}
Here, the oxen are the scribe's finger(s) and thumb, and the plough is the pen. Among literary riddles, riddles on the pen and other writing equipment are particularly widespread.<ref name=Powers>Luke Powers, "Tests for True Wit: Jonathan Swift's Pen and Ink Riddles", ''South Central Review'', 7.4 (Winter 1990), 40–52; {{doi|10.2307/3189093}}. {{JSTOR|3189093}}.</ref><ref>Helen Price, ''[http://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/6607/ Human and NonHuman in Anglo-Saxon and British Postwar Poetry: Reshaping Literary Ecology]'' (unpublished doctoral thesis, University of Leeds, 2013), pp. 92–128.</ref>

=== Year-riddle ===
The [[year-riddle]] is found across Eurasia.<ref>Antti Aarne, ''Vergleichende Rätselforschungen'', 3 vols, Folklore Fellows Communications, 26–28 (Helsinki/Hamina: Suomalainen Tiedeakatemia, 1918–20), I 74–178.</ref> For example, a riddle in the [[Sanskrit]] ''[[Rig Veda]]'', from around 1500–1000 BCE, describes a 'twelve-spoked wheel, upon which stand 720 sons of one birth' (i.e. the twelve months of the year, which together supposedly have 360 days and 360 nights).<ref>Frederick Tupper, Jr, "Originals and Analogues of the Exeter Book Riddles", ''Modern Language Notes'', 18.4 (April 1903), 97–106 (p. 102). {{JSTOR|2917102}}.</ref>

=== Person-riddle ===
The most famous example of this type is the [[riddle of the Sphinx]]. This Estonian example shows the pattern:
{{Verse translation|
{{lang|et|Hommikul käib nelja,
lõuna-ajal kahe,
õhtul kolme jalaga}}
|
It goes in the morning on four feet,
at lunch-time on two,
at evening on three<ref>Antti Aarne, ''Vergleichende Rätselforschungen'', 3 vols, Folklore Fellows Communications, 26–28 (Helsinki/Hamina: Suomalainen Tiedeakatemia, 1918–20), II 3–23 (p. 12).</ref>}}
The riddle describes a crawling baby, a standing person, and an old person with a walking stick.

=== Two-legs, three-legs, and four-legs ===
This type includes riddles along the lines of this German example:
{{Verse translation|
{{lang|de|Zweibein sass auf Dreibein und ass Einbein.
Da kam Vierbein und nahm Zweibein das Einbein.
Da nahm Zweibein Dreibein und schlug damit Vierbein,
dass Vierbein Einbein fallen liess.}}
|
Two-legs sat on Three-legs and ate One-leg.
Then Four-legs came and took One-leg from Two-legs.
Then Two-legs took Three-legs and with it struck Four-legs,
so that Four-legs let One-leg go.<ref>Antti Aarne, ''Vergleichende Rätselforschungen'', 3 vols, Folklore Fellows Communications, 26–28 (Helsinki/Hamina: Suomalainen Tiedeakatemia, 1918–20), II 24–59 (p. 24).</ref>}}
The conceit here is that Two-legs is a person, Three-legs is a three-legged stool, Four-legs is a dog, and One-leg is a ham hock.

=== Four Hang; Two Point the Way ===
An example of [[Four Hang; Two Point the Way]], to which the pre-eminent solution is 'cow'<ref>Antti Aarne, ''Vergleichende Rätselforschungen'', 3 vols, Folklore Fellows Communications, 26–28 (Helsinki/Hamina: Suomalainen Tiedeakatemia, 1918–20), II 60–172.</ref> is given here in thirteenth-century Icelandic form:
{{Verse translation|
{{lang|non|Fjórir hanga,
fjórir ganga,
tveir veg vísa,
tveir hundum varða,
einn eptir drallar
ok jafnan heldr saurugr.
Heiðrekr konungr,
hyggðu at gátu!}}
|
Four are hanging,
Four are walking,
Two point the way out,
Two ward the dogs off,
One ever dirty
Dangles behind it.
This riddle ponder
O prince Heidrek!<ref>''[http://vsnrweb-publications.org.uk/The%20Saga%20Of%20King%20Heidrek%20The%20Wise.pdf The Saga of King Heidrek the Wise]'', trans. by Christopher Tolkien (London: Nelson, 1960), p. 43 [no. 70].</ref>}}
The cow has four teats, four legs, two horns, two back legs, and one tail.

=== Featherless bird-riddle ===
The [[featherless bird-riddle]] is best known in Central Europe.<ref>Antti Aarne, ''Vergleichende Rätselforschungen'', 3 vols, Folklore Fellows Communications, 26–28 (Helsinki/Hamina: Suomalainen Tiedeakatemia, 1918–20), III 3–48.</ref> An English version is:
<poem style="margin-left:2em">
White bird featherless
Flew from Paradise,
Perched upon the castle wall;
Up came Lord John landless,
Took it up handless,
And rode away horseless to the King's white hall.<ref>Jón Árnason, ''[http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/IcelOnline.JonArnGatur Íslenzkar gátur, skemtanir, vikivakar og Þulur, I]'' (Kaupmannahöfn: Hið Íslenzka bókmenntafélag, 1887), http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/cgi-bin/IcelOnline/IcelOnline-idx?type=HTML&rgn=DIV2&byte=187436.</ref></poem>
Here, a snowflake falls from the sky, and is blown off by the wind.