INTRODUCTION Riddles belong tothe large lass of eri large class of enigmatic and puzzling questions that one person poses to another during a ridding seesion. They rank with ryt, fables, olkales, and proverbs as one of the earliest and most widespread types of formulated thought Like proverbs, most riddles are characterized by brevity, wit, and felicitous phrasing, and as such are fective ways of transmitting alk wisdom to auceeding generation incapasle Archer Taylor, a distinguished eutherity on riddles, identifies some i thetrueriddelonin bre, te ridle Uw nec thearkthmete pastes hacer questions with its several types, notably the Biblical question or riddle; and the conundram. He briefly defines each type as fellows: the true riddle is a description of abjects in erm intendedto suggest something entirely different, Theneck-ncdle(aterm coined by Taylorhimself) narrates an event known only othe poser ofthe riddle. By thus setting an nsolublepuzale, the poser, whois condemned todeath, hopes to save his neck. Clever questions of several sorts demand the possession of special knowledge on the hearer's part, the performance of an arithmetical calculation, or acquaintance with a detail of Biblical history. The conundrum, or witty question, owes its poin:toan ingenious ‘combination of conflicting or heterogeneous ideas; it often plays with pans? eually, whon we talk of riddles, we mean the firsttype, or what Taylor calls chetrue riddle. This collection will be concerned mainly with this type. The true riddle has also been called the descriptive, or folk, or ppular riddle (Ger. Velkordtsel) as opposed te the literary or artistic riddle (Ger. Kisnstratsel). In his study of Visayan riddles, Donn Hart abserves that no definitive statement exists regarding the basic characteristics that distinguish folk from literary riddles. He however isolates seven traits ofthe elk riddle, ‘when compared to the literary riddle: (1) has briefer statement; (2) lacks purposeful polish (3) avoids confictng details associated with two or more themes;(4) rarely deals ‘with abstract themes; (6) has general group familiarity of the subjact matter; (6) hs Widespread cezurrence ofanalegous riddles in other societies;and(7) wasnot purposely cemposed for publication? Definitions of the riddle in terms of structure have been cffered by riddle scholars, Best known are those by Archer Taylor and by Robert Georges and Alan Dundes. ‘Aveording to Taylor, the riddle consists of two descriptive elements, one positive and one negative... the pesitive element is metaphorical, in terms of the answer, though the listener is led to understand it ina literal sense. In contrast, the negative descriptive tlement is correctly interpreted literally. Thus inthe riddle, “Something has eyes and ‘cannot see" (Irish potato... the positive descriptive element “eyes” is metaphorical in ferms of the anowor “potato” while the negative descriptive element “cannot see” is ‘unequivoeally literal, In this definition, the answer is implied by details ofthe positive escriptive element, which misleads the listoner because he wrongly assumes that a figurative description is a literal one.PHILIPPINE POLK LITERATURE: THE RIDDLES abort A. Georges and Alan Dundes, two younger students ofthe riddle, consider trae eer inition of Teylorinadequate for several reasons, They donot think titel een a epics to many riddle texts. Some riddles are without postive and nepatvg seeratcuorslemente: they have merely literal description. Moraover,in some ridden qeeereitive elements are not necessarily metaphorical nor the negative ones litera Geaes and Dundes offer their own tentative structural definition of the riddle a, GefEronal verbal expression which contains one or more descriptive elements, a pai of aeaeronay be in opppeition;the referent of the elements isto be suess6d.” On the bas aesee ae fatcion, rads fall under two categeries:(1)non-oppositional riddles that have or decsr pve lomentsin apposition: and (2) oppositional iddlesin which the descriptive aoa eeerre in oppeaition, The second type may contain any ofthree types of opposition Cipnettheteal contraditive, (2) privational cotradictive, and (3) causal contradetvg sponte terested in the structural method of studying folklore should study save nion enrefuly. For the general reader, however, the bref general definition by A. dept gkoveissuficient,or the dictionary definition of aridle as “a question stated sg see cree one’s ingenuity in answering iter diseovering its meaning,” or ofa riddle ae eeccemuilly a description of something which has to be guessed” ‘As Archer Taylor has correctly observed, riddling is a universal art, Its also v ancicnt and has engaged the interest and participation of mony farsous personages in history. From the Bgyptian and Greek mythical pried up to our time, riddles have been seed Ds crtertain, to sharpen the wits ofthe young, and to test the wits ofboth old and Young, One ofthe oldest recarded riddesis the Riddle ofthe Sphinx, known tous through Brook mythalogy andSophocles' Oedipus Rex. The Sphins,« monster with ahuman head tnd the body of¢ beast, sat on a high rock by the readside near Thebes and propounded ths fellowing riddle to each passer-by: “What animal is four-feoted in the morning, two. {hated at roan, and three-ooved in the evening?” All sho failed to solve the riddle were torn topieces by the Sphinx and thrown from the rock. Finally, Oedipus, the son of the King of Thebes, tried and answered the riddle correctly. The Sphinx was sochagrined at hearing the riddle solved that she flung herself down the precipice and perished.* Homer Jesaid to have died of vexation because he could notsolve the riddle: “What we caught we threw away, what wecould net catch, wekept.” And indeed, how couldhe haveknownthat thetwo bays who went hunting were talking about the louse, which isthe anewor tothe Fiddle. Other dictinguished participants in riddling contests of ancient times were Odin, the Norse god, and Biblical personages like Samson, King Salomon, and the Queen of Sheba” From these references to riddles and riddling im antiquity, the antiquarian Sabine Baring-Gould concludes that: there was a time when quite as certainly as there were contests: of arms, so ‘contests of wit were gone through for great ends, sometimes with life at stak That was a period when there was a struggle between man and man, and the fittest survived: butthis fittest was notalways the strongestanimal, but the man In the earliest accounts of ridale contests, the forfeit was either life or honor, Later, in ballads and folktales, riddles also served as marvioge tests, Unless a young girl came up tothe mark in wit, she was deemed unfit for the marriage proposed. In many tallads, Tegonds, andfelktales, young girls (occasionally, young men) are given riddlesto solveand tacks to perform requiring the use notonly of physical strength but more sof native wit, Baring-Gould, in fact, goes further and links the riddle to the development of rmankind. Both passed through three stages in development. According tohim, in ancient times, among certain races, Weak and defective children were abandoned to di. ThisINTRODUCTION practice Was found among the Greeks, the Romans, the Norse, and other ancient race He believes, that in line with this practice, the riddle was employed at one ti ans history ae "bran test” and that twas notonly the phyleatiy eenbagee ce butalsn those found tobe mentally incapable, This was thefirat stage in the development ofthe Ub treo as Lies the: im tape in the development of mankind. In the second stage, a trial of strength or of wit determined great issues, with property am stake, Lastly, the ndele degenerated into a mere pastime’ nn PUP” and honor at ‘Through the years, the riddle has developed into a varie erica ride, he conundrum, thelegogryph, the chaade, the abun heer pore ad he epigram are only a few forms, according to a study by a German scholar.” Tie last transformation, Baring Gould thinks, is the detective novel, ofthe type of WilkieCalline™ The Moonstone, in which “the brain of the reador i kept in tension throughout and rhe imagination at work to discover the solution ofthequestion —Whostolethemeonstone?™ PHILIPPINE RIDDLES. The Philippines shares the love for riddling and =) pas her cn rear rca eames arsenal ineforing ant 2) brought to light with the growing interest in the preservation of our folk literature. This collected from some 22 ethnolinguistie groups. What functions do ridéling contests perform in the life of the Philippine folk? Certainly not to deside matters of life and death, or even of honor and property, asin the days of Odin the Norse god. At present, ridling in the Philippines 1s done mainly for ntertainment, This seems tobe the finding ofevery student who has studied Philippine riddling. Donn V. Hart, whohas done the most careful and extensive study ofridaling in the Visayas and in the Philippines, in general, arved atthe conclusion that: itis difficult to suggest anything central to Christian Filipino ridding. Riddles adhere togreat variety of occasions, secular and sacred. Since ridding is often 1 pleasant pastime during labor or leisure, riddles are associated with most social groupings, from harvesting to courtship, to mortuary services (p. 65.) ‘This findingis confirmedby studies of riddlingin specific ethno-linguistic groups. Among the Tagalogs of Queron Province, riddling may be held atany time oftheday or night — whenever thereis a group of people, during their merrier moments as well esduring their somber moods, in play and in work, before going to bedor during any activity in the day. A minimum of two ‘may start it, and the initial impulse may gain audience in # moment. Children tiring oftheir play stop attimes toindulgein iddle-making. During planting or harvost-time, riddles are propoundedto lighten work, When rowing or travelling afoot, duringrice pounding, or when fishermen make or mend theirnets or traps, one hears them enjoying each other’s riddles." ‘Among the Tausug, ridding “remains a popular pastime... done during wedding eelebra- tions, during the nights of Ramadan or the month of fasting, during wakes and death anniversaries, or anytime a group of people or children gather.” Among the Cagayan Toanags, also, riddling isa favorite pastime... one ofthe few leisure time activities that the barrio folk can really engage in." In general, riddling is engoged in by the Toanogs during moments of relaxaticn and light work, but itis not done exclusively: Riddling dees not monopolize the whole period of relaxation. It always accom: hies and is accompanied by other activites ike ight work, sl talk, and story telling. The mood is one af general enjoyment... (Bangan. p. 145). Day to day leisure hours are not the sole outlet for tides. Preparations for social celebr tions like baptisms, weddings, funerals, and death anniversaries whore almost the wholene’ghborhoodisinvolved also lend themselves toriddling sessions (pp. 145-46),