“Q: How do you get an elephant into the fridge in only three steps?

A: 1. Open the fridge door. 2. Put the elephant inside the fridge. 3. Close the fridge door.

Q: How do you get a giraffe into the fridge in four steps?

A: 1. Open the fridge door. 2. Take the elephant out. 3. Put the giraffe inside the fridge. 4. Close the fridge door.

Q: One day, there was a mandatory meeting that required the presence of all the animals in the world to meet up at this particular jungle. However, one animal was still missing. Which animal is it and why was it not there?

A: The giraffe is missing because he’s still stuck inside the fridge!

Q: Tarzan had to go to this mandatory meeting because he was supposed to lead the session. However, he had to get across this large swamp where all the crocodiles lived in order to get to the meeting. Unfortunately, all the vines were broken so he could not swing across. How was he able to get to the meeting?

A: He swam across the swamp. The swamp was safe because all the crocodiles were at the mandatory meeting.”

I think I first heard this riddle series when I was in middle school and I got stumped by the questions. When the answers were later revealed to me, I thought they were quite clever because, at first, it didn’t occur to me that each succeeding question was related to the information provided by the previous riddle. I think this is more enjoyable for children and more difficult for adults because adults tend to overanalyze the situation. For example, they would think that the answers to the first two riddles would involve a complicated tricky process. But it turns out that all it takes to answer these riddles is simple common sense which adults sometimes take for granted.