Riddle-tales ( stories featuring riddle-contests ) frequently provide the context for the preservation of ancient riddles for posterity, and as such have both been studied as a narrative form in their own right, and for the riddles they contain.E.g. Christine Goldberg, Turandot's Sisters: A Study of the Folktale AT 851, Garland Folklore Library, 7 (New York: Garland, 1993). Such contests are a subset of wisdom contests more generally. They tend to fall into two groups: testing the wisdom of a king or other aristocrat; and testing the suitability of a suitor. Correspondingly, the Aarne–Thompson classification systems catalogue two main folktale-types including riddle-contests: AT 927, Outriddling the Judge, and AT 851, The Princess Who Can Not Solve the Riddle.Christine Goldberg, Turandot's Sisters: A Study of the Folktale AT 851, Garland Folklore Library, 7 (New York: Garland, 1993), pp. 10–11. Such stories invariably include answers to the riddles posed: 'the audience cannot be left dangling'.Christine Goldberg, Turandot's Sisters: A Study of the Folktale AT 851, Garland Folklore Library, 7 (New York: Garland, 1993), p. 39. List of riddle-tales The following list is based on the survey by Goldberg. +(main or original) languageearliest known datetext title and summaryAT numberreferencesHebreweighth to sixth century BCESamson's riddle. In the Book of Judges, Samson poses a riddle to the Philistines at his wedding feast.Goldberg 1993, 17–18.Hebrewseventh to sixth century BCESolomon and the Queen of Sheba. The queen tests Solomon with riddles (including I Kings 10.1–13 and II Chronicles 9.1–12). This inspired various later works: four riddles are ascribed to her in the tenth- or eleventh-century Midrash Proverbs.Jacob Lassner, Demonizing the Queen of Sheba: Boundaries of Gender and Culture in Postbiblical Judaism and Medieval Islam. University of Chicago Press, 1993, pp. 9-17 These plus another fourteen or fifteen tests of wisdom, some of which are riddles, appear in the Midrash ha-Ḥefez (1430 CE). The early medieval Aramic Targum Sheni also contains three riddles posed by the Queen to Solomon.Goldberg 1993, 22–24.Ancient Greeksixth or fifth century BCEHomer's death. Heraclitus describes Homer being prophesied to die upon failing to solve some children's riddle. The story is also told by Hesiod.Goldberg 1993, 15–16.Ancient Greekfifth century BCEOedipus and the Sphinx. The riddle-contest is first alluded to in a play by Epicharmus of Kos.Goldberg 1993, 13–15.Aramaicfirst century BCE or CEKahramâneh and the Young Prince. A young prince wins a bride through a riddle-contest. The related story of Turandot in One Thousand and One Nights, which was the inspiration for several modern plays, involves a riddle-contest:Archer Taylor, The Literary Riddle before 1600 (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1948), p. 41. the suitors need to answer all three questions to gain the Princess's hand, or else they are beheaded;Christine Goldberg, Turandot's Sisters: A Study of the Folktale AT 851, Garland Folklore Library, 7 (New York: Garland, 1993). In Puccini's opera, Turandot grimly warns Calaf "the riddles are three, but Death is one".851Goldberg 1993, 25–26; 29–31.Aramaicfifth century BCEThe Tale of Ahikar. Ahikar helps his king by solving riddles posed by a rival.Goldberg 1993, 17.Ancient Greekfirst or second century CESeptum sapientium convivium (The Dinner of the Seven Wise Men) in Plutarch's Moralia (2: 345-449). A woman poses riddles at a party.Goldberg 1993, 16–17.Ancient Greekthird century CEApollonius of Tyre. Antiochus tests Apollonius's suitability to marry his daughter.Taylor 1948, 41; Goldberg 1993, 18–20.Sanskritfourth or fifth century CEThe Mahabharata. III.311-12 contains Yaksha Prashna, a series of riddles posed by a nature-spirit (yaksha) to Yudhishthira.Annikki Kaivola-Bregenhøj, Riddles: Perspectives on the Use, Function, and Change in a Folklore Genre, Studia Fennica, Folkloristica, 10 (Helsinki: Finnish Literature Society, 2001), pp. 11–12; . III.134 contains the story of Ashtavakra, who answers the riddles posed King Janaka and then defeats one Bandin in a further wisdom-contest.Ioannis M. Konstantakos, "Trial by Riddle: The Testing of the Counsellor and the Contest of Kings in the Legend of Amasis and Bias", Classica et Mediaevalia, 55 (2004), 85–137 (pp. 111–13).Goldberg 1993, 20–22.Arabictenth century CEThe marriage of Imrou-l-Qais. Imrou-l-Qais will only marry the woman who can solve his riddle.Goldberg 1993, 24-25Persiantenth or eleventh century CEShahnameh. A riddle-contest between Zal and Manuchehr, the emperor of Iran. Manuchehr fears and wishes to dispose of Zal, but is advised that Zal will become an unrivalled hero of Iran, so Manuchehr tests him with riddles, mostly cosmological.Archer Taylor, The Literary Riddle before 1600 (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1948), pp. 25–30. Winning the riddle-contest is one of a number of steps for Zal to win the hand of Rudabeh. Also, Buzurjmihr faces a wisdom-contest.Goldberg 1993, 26–27.Sanskriteleventh century CEBaital Pachisi. A vetala tells twenty-four tales, each culminating in a riddle. Unusually, the challenge here is for the hero to not solve a riddle.Goldberg 1993, 25.Persian?uncertainGul and Sanaubar. Suitors to a princess must answer a riddle.Kemp Malone, 'Rose and Cypress', PMLA, 43.2 (June 1928), 397-446, URL 1993, 27–28.Old Norsethirteenth century CEHervarar saga ok Heiðreks. The god Óðinn challenges King Heiðrekr to answer his riddles.Jeffrey Scott Love, The Reception of Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks from the Middle Ages to the Seventeenth Century, Münchner Nordistische Studien, 14 (München: Herbert Utz Verlag, 2013), pp. 190–238.cf. 927Goldberg 1993, 31–34.Irishthirteenth century CEImthecht na Tromdaime. The text contains at least one riddle,Christine Goldberg, Turandot's Sisters: A Study of the Folktale AT 851, Garland Folklore Library, 7 (New York: Garland, 1993), p. 37. examples of which are very rare in medieval Irish literature.Patrick Sims-Williams, Irish Influence on Medieval Welsh Literature (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010), pp. 114–15. When the hero returns to the hall to punish the excessive demands of its poets, his wisdom is tested through a number of questions, including the following riddle: 'What good thing did man find on earth that God did not find?—A worthy master.'Goldberg 1993, 37.Germanuncertain CEIn the Grimm tale "The Peasant's Wise Daughter", a peasant-girl wins the king in marriage by solving a riddle he poses.875Persianca. 12th century 1762 1926The tale of Princess Turandot, a beautiful yet cold princess who proposes deadly riddles for her suitors. The tale was originally present in compilation Haft Peykar, and inspired Carlo Gozzi's commedia dell'arte Turandot and the more famous opera by Italian composer Giacomo Puccini.851A In a Sri Lankan tale, The Riddle Princess: Terávili Kumari Kava, a princess loves solving riddles. A Rajah's son falls in love with her portrait and disguises himself as a penniless pilgrim in order to get to know the princess, as part of his plan.Van Dort, Aline. Legends of Ceylon In Fairy Tales: eké mat eké rataké (once in a certain country). Colombo: Platé, 18. pp. 45-51. See also The Riddle (fairy tale) The Ridere of Riddles A Riddling Tale Sources Archer Taylor, The Literary Riddle before 1600 (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1948). Christine Goldberg, Turandot's Sisters: A Study of the Folktale AT 851, Garland Folklore Library, 7 (New York: Garland, 1993).%DIFDELCMD < %DIFDELCMD < %%% References Further reading Gutierrez, Maria. (2006). "El tonto que propuso una adivinanza imposible de acertar: una versión madrileña del cuento ATU 851". In: Culturas populares, Nº. 3, 2006 (in Spanish).%DIFDELCMD < %DIFDELCMD < %%% Category:Riddles Category:Traditional stories Category:Folklo
Riddle-tales are traditional stories featuring riddle-contests . They frequently provide the context for the preservation of ancient riddles for posterity, and as such have both been studied as a narrative form in their own right, and for the riddles they contain.E.g. Christine Goldberg, Turandot's Sisters: A Study of the Folktale AT 851, Garland Folklore Library, 7 (New York: Garland, 1993). Such contests are a subset of wisdom contests more generally. They tend to fall into two groups: testing the wisdom of a king or other aristocrat; and testing the suitability of a suitor. Correspondingly, the Aarne–Thompson classification systems catalogue two main folktale-types including riddle-contests: AT 927, Outriddling the Judge, and AT 851, The Princess Who Can Not Solve the Riddle.Christine Goldberg, Turandot's Sisters: A Study of the Folktale AT 851, Garland Folklore Library, 7 (New York: Garland, 1993), pp. 10–11. Such stories invariably include answers to the riddles posed: 'the audience cannot be left dangling'.Christine Goldberg, Turandot's Sisters: A Study of the Folktale AT 851, Garland Folklore Library, 7 (New York: Garland, 1993), p. 39. List of riddle-tales The following list is based on the survey by Goldberg. +(main or original) languageearliest known datetext title and summaryAT numberreferencesHebreweighth to sixth century BCESamson's riddle. In the Book of Judges, Samson poses a riddle to the Philistines at his wedding feast.Goldberg 1993, 17–18.Hebrewseventh to sixth century BCESolomon and the Queen of Sheba. The queen tests Solomon with riddles (including I Kings 10.1–13 and II Chronicles 9.1–12). This inspired various later works: four riddles are ascribed to her in the tenth- or eleventh-century Midrash Proverbs.Jacob Lassner, Demonizing the Queen of Sheba: Boundaries of Gender and Culture in Postbiblical Judaism and Medieval Islam. University of Chicago Press, 1993, pp. 9-17 These plus another fourteen or fifteen tests of wisdom, some of which are riddles, appear in the Midrash ha-Ḥefez (1430 CE). The early medieval Aramic Targum Sheni also contains three riddles posed by the Queen to Solomon.Goldberg 1993, 22–24.Ancient Greeksixth or fifth century BCEHomer's death. Heraclitus describes Homer being prophesied to die upon failing to solve some children's riddle. The story is also told by Hesiod.Goldberg 1993, 15–16.Ancient Greekfifth century BCEOedipus and the Sphinx. The riddle-contest is first alluded to in a play by Epicharmus of Kos.Goldberg 1993, 13–15.Aramaicfirst century BCE or CEKahramâneh and the Young Prince. A young prince wins a bride through a riddle-contest. The related story of Turandot in One Thousand and One Nights, which was the inspiration for several modern plays, involves a riddle-contest:Archer Taylor, The Literary Riddle before 1600 (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1948), p. 41. the suitors need to answer all three questions to gain the Princess's hand, or else they are beheaded;Christine Goldberg, Turandot's Sisters: A Study of the Folktale AT 851, Garland Folklore Library, 7 (New York: Garland, 1993). In Puccini's opera, Turandot grimly warns Calaf "the riddles are three, but Death is one".851Goldberg 1993, 25–26; 29–31.Aramaicfifth century BCEThe Tale of Ahikar. Ahikar helps his king by solving riddles posed by a rival.Goldberg 1993, 17.Ancient Greekfirst or second century CESeptum sapientium convivium (The Dinner of the Seven Wise Men) in Plutarch's Moralia (2: 345-449). A woman poses riddles at a party.Goldberg 1993, 16–17.Ancient Greekthird century CEApollonius of Tyre. Antiochus tests Apollonius's suitability to marry his daughter.Taylor 1948, 41; Goldberg 1993, 18–20.Sanskritfourth or fifth century CEThe Mahabharata. III.311-12 contains Yaksha Prashna, a series of riddles posed by a nature-spirit (yaksha) to Yudhishthira.Annikki Kaivola-Bregenhøj, Riddles: Perspectives on the Use, Function, and Change in a Folklore Genre, Studia Fennica, Folkloristica, 10 (Helsinki: Finnish Literature Society, 2001), pp. 11–12; . III.134 contains the story of Ashtavakra, who answers the riddles posed King Janaka and then defeats one Bandin in a further wisdom-contest.Ioannis M. Konstantakos, "Trial by Riddle: The Testing of the Counsellor and the Contest of Kings in the Legend of Amasis and Bias", Classica et Mediaevalia, 55 (2004), 85–137 (pp. 111–13).Goldberg 1993, 20–22.Arabictenth century CEThe marriage of Imrou-l-Qais. Imrou-l-Qais will only marry the woman who can solve his riddle.Goldberg 1993, 24-25Persiantenth or eleventh century CEShahnameh. A riddle-contest between Zal and Manuchehr, the emperor of Iran. Manuchehr fears and wishes to dispose of Zal, but is advised that Zal will become an unrivalled hero of Iran, so Manuchehr tests him with riddles, mostly cosmological.Archer Taylor, The Literary Riddle before 1600 (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1948), pp. 25–30. Winning the riddle-contest is one of a number of steps for Zal to win the hand of Rudabeh. Also, Buzurjmihr faces a wisdom-contest.Goldberg 1993, 26–27.Sanskriteleventh century CEBaital Pachisi. A vetala tells twenty-four tales, each culminating in a riddle. Unusually, the challenge here is for the hero to not solve a riddle.Goldberg 1993, 25.Persian?uncertainGul and Sanaubar. Suitors to a princess must answer a riddle.Kemp Malone, 'Rose and Cypress', PMLA, 43.2 (June 1928), 397-446, URL 1993, 27–28.Old Norsethirteenth century CEHervarar saga ok Heiðreks. The god Óðinn challenges King Heiðrekr to answer his riddles.Jeffrey Scott Love, The Reception of Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks from the Middle Ages to the Seventeenth Century, Münchner Nordistische Studien, 14 (München: Herbert Utz Verlag, 2013), pp. 190–238.cf. 927Goldberg 1993, 31–34.Irishthirteenth century CEImthecht na Tromdaime. The text contains at least one riddle,Christine Goldberg, Turandot's Sisters: A Study of the Folktale AT 851, Garland Folklore Library, 7 (New York: Garland, 1993), p. 37. examples of which are very rare in medieval Irish literature.Patrick Sims-Williams, Irish Influence on Medieval Welsh Literature (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010), pp. 114–15. When the hero returns to the hall to punish the excessive demands of its poets, his wisdom is tested through a number of questions, including the following riddle: 'What good thing did man find on earth that God did not find?—A worthy master.'Goldberg 1993, 37.Germanuncertain CEIn the Grimm tale "The Peasant's Wise Daughter", a peasant-girl wins the king in marriage by solving a riddle he poses.875Persianca. 12th century 1762 1926The tale of Princess Turandot, a beautiful yet cold princess who proposes deadly riddles for her suitors. The tale was originally present in compilation Haft Peykar, and inspired Carlo Gozzi's commedia dell'arte Turandot and the more famous opera by Italian composer Giacomo Puccini.851A In a Sri Lankan tale, The Riddle Princess: Terávili Kumari Kava, a princess loves solving riddles. A Rajah's son falls in love with her portrait and disguises himself as a penniless pilgrim in order to get to know the princess, as part of his plan.Van Dort, Aline. Legends of Ceylon In Fairy Tales: eké mat eké rataké (once in a certain country). Colombo: Platé, 18. pp. 45-51. %DIFDELCMD < %DIFDELCMD < %%% %DIFDELCMD < %DIFDELCMD < %%% 
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See also The Riddle (fairy tale) The Ridere of Riddles A Riddling Tale
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Sources Archer Taylor, The Literary Riddle before 1600 (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1948). Christine Goldberg, Turandot's Sisters: A Study of the Folktale AT 851, Garland Folklore Library, 7 (New York: Garland, 1993).
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Further reading Gutierrez, Maria. (2006). "El tonto que propuso una adivinanza imposible de acertar: una versión madrileña del cuento ATU 851". In: Culturas populares, Nº. 3, 2006 (in Spanish).
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Category:Riddles Category:Traditional stories Category:Folklo