Category Archives: Riddle

Wealthy Man Riddle

Nationality: Native American
Age: 12
Occupation: student
Residence: Franklin, Tennessee
Performance Date: 4-22-20
Primary Language: English

Main Piece:

Informant: There was a very wealthy businessman and a woman on a flight who was sitting right next to each other. And the woman was just trying to get some sleep on her flight. But the wealthy businessman was like bored out of his mind so he decided to give the woman a trick. He said, “I’ll ask you a question and if you don’t know it, you pay me $5. Then you ask me a question and if I don’t know it, I pay you $500.” The woman was like “ok, fine.”

So the guy asked the woman, he asked her a riddle and she had no idea was it was, so she went ahead and gave him $5. Then the woman asked the man, “What goes up a hill with 4 legs, but comes down with two?” The man spent a really long time thinking about it. He called his friends, he looked it up, but he couldn’t find the answer anywhere. And then he finally asked her what was the answer. And she hands him back his $5. Because, she didn’t know the answer either.

Interviewer: Wait, what?

Background:

The informant is a twelve-year-old Native American girl from the Choctaw, Blackfoot, and Lakota Nations. She was born and raised in Tennessee and frequently travels out west to visit family and friends. She is in sixth grade.

Context:

During the Covid-19 Pandemic I flew back home to Tennessee to stay with my family. The informant is my younger sister. I asked her is she knew any jokes or riddles.

Thoughts:

Proverbs, riddles, and.charms are three of the shorter forms of folklore. They are not necessarily confined to oral expression, having appeared in written literature for ages. The purpose of the riddle is usually to deceive its listener regarding its meaning. A descriptions is given where the answer must be deciphered. Many times riddles are used as a contest of wits. Regarding this particular riddle . . . story? The rich man was bored and used his money for entertainment. I honestly really don’t know what to say. It was kind of funny. (also, between us, could it be a murderer who went to bury a dead body . . .? Hopefully something much more pleasant).

“One Up, One Down” Folk Game and Riddle

Nationality: Mexican
Age: 21
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: 4/24/2020
Primary Language: English
Language: Spanish

Main Piece

Informant: This is kind of a camp riddle and game mashup and it is called One up One down. I like it because it is difficult enough to take days to figure out, so people can spend time figuring it out. One person will run it, and will introduce the riddle. They are the keeper, of the uhh game I guess. It goes in a circle, and you have three options: two up, one up one down, and two down. And so like, each person will give one of the three and try to figure out the pattern that would consistently allow them to say the correct answer. The person in charge tells them if they are right or wrong, because they know the secret to the pattern. Then it keeps going in a circle, people guess, and the keeper tells them if they are right or wrong and it keeps going until people figure out the right answer. The correct answer is based on the orientation of their arms. So right now, I would be two down, because both of my hands are in my lap. But, if I left one hand on my lap and one to rest my chin on, the correct answer would be one up one down. Basically, people overthink and start trying to guess elaborate patterns, and you kinda just win when you figure it out and you usually can’t tell the people still figuring out what the right answer is. 

Interviewer: Where did you learn this?

InformantI learned this in high school during my freshman river trip, where we would canoe down the Colorado river for four days. It was a game my group’s guide taught us, and I didn’t get it until our bus ride back. It drove me crazy, but when I got it I felt so frustrated but like I was part of a secret club!

Background

The informant is a great friend and housemate of mine, and he is a senior at USC. Coming from Oxnard, CA he and his family are very connected with their Mexican roots and he has grown up practicing and identifying with many aspects of Mexican culture. He is also a very big raver, as he enjoys going to many EDM festivals and aspires to do lighting design for different raves as well. He also identifies as part of the LGBTQ+ community, comfortable identifying as a bisexual man.

Context

While on a road trip with some of our other housemates the informant taught us this game and began to play it with us. At the end of the trip, I was the only one in the group who could still not figure it out. During the interview I had him explain the rules and origin of the game. 

Analysis

I think this game is a great combination of a kinesthetic folk game mixed with a folk riddle, as there is a secret pattern you have to find out in order to comprehend the game as a whole. It is also inherently folklore as the rules are never shared, you either understand the pattern of the game or you don’t. Being intended for longer trips, it also proves to be a great way to pass the time as it could take a while for players to figure it out.

隔夜油炸鬼——冇厘火气

Nationality: Chinese
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: China
Performance Date: 2020.5.1
Primary Language: Chinese
Language: Cantonese

Main piece: 隔夜油炸鬼——冇厘火气

Original piece in Cantonese: 隔夜油炸鬼——冇厘火气

In Chinese: 隔夜油条——没有一点点阳刚气

Translated: A overnight deep-fried dough stick, doesn’t have any hardness left.

Explain: Deep-fred dough stick is a popular snack in Guangdong area. It is crunchy and tasty when it’s fresh made. But after a night, it will be soft and cold, not as good at all. Guangdong people use this two-part riddle to descrive some one doesn’t have any vitality, or someone who is too good temper and never got mad.

Background Information:

Q is a friend I met on Internet. She was from Guangzhou, China, where they speak Cantonese and Mandarin as their daily language. I asked Q to share some Cantanese proverb with me through internet and she agreed. The category pf proverb we are talking about has a specific name called “歇后语”. It is a kind of two-part allegorical saying. There are some content connection between the first part and the second part as well. Normally, they can form a simple story.

Context:

I was casually interviewing my internet friend Q through a chinese social media.

Thoughts:

This one is different from all the other Cantonese proverb I’ve heard because I have never heard anything close to it in Chinese. At first, I thought it is used to describe someone doing belated action because of the term “overnight” in Chinese. But the usage of this is far different from it. It is very interesting to me.

Circle House Riddle

Nationality: American
Age: 19
Occupation: student
Residence: MN
Performance Date: 4/22/20
Primary Language: English

O: There are 4 people in a circle house: A mother, a father, a maid, and a baby. One day the baby goes missing. During the interrogation, the mom said she was cooking, the dad said he was on the way to work, and the maid said she was dusting the corners. Who kidnapped the baby?

A: The Dad?

O: Nope.

A: Ah, I get it! The wife was probably lying, so the mom?

O: No. It was the maid because a circle house doesn’t have any corners, girl.

This is a bit of a puzzle but the answer is laid in plain sight. The setup of the riddle gives you the answer. It’s only a matter of listening carefully and knowing your math. Anyone unfamiliar with geometry would be quickly pointed out. The informant communicated that all the riddles she knows now were ones she learned in elementary school which is why it’s so important for them to keep telling it. Riddles can be regional. O’s experience with these in elementary school allows them to tell who experienced a similar community during their formative years.

One Knight, Three Men.

Nationality: American
Age: 19
Occupation: student
Residence: MN
Performance Date: 4/22/20
Primary Language: English

One knight, three men are on a boat sailing across the ocean. In the morning, there were four people on the boat. How could this happen?

A: Someone swam up and hitched a ride.

O: But the boat never stopped so how did this happen?

A: Someone gave birth.

O: Oh my god. Three MEN?!

A: That’s all I got.

O: In the beginning, I said one KNIGHT along with three men. There were four people on the boat from the start but one was a knight.

This riddle works with its play on words to deceive its listeners. There are a number of other versions of this same riddle. One notable version involves a King and a Queen on a boat. It’s possible that in the past this particular riddle was meant to separate those who live or have lived under monarchies from those who haven’t as many of them deal with noble families. For the informant, this is a fun riddle they like to use because, considering the way it is carefully worded, they know it will confuse people.