This is the “riddle of the sphinx” from Sophocles’ play Oedipus the King. What walks on four feet in the morning, two feet in the afternoon, and three feet in the evening? Examples of Riddles in Literature Example 1 The more riddles you work on, the faster your brain gets at this process, which means it is getting better at processing words and ideas. When presented with a riddle, the brain searches through all the words and their various meanings, and solving the riddle depends on locating the combination of meanings that will unlock the puzzle – sort of like a combination lock. In addition to being fun, riddles can also be quite useful! That’s because solving them requires you to think hard about the words involved, and this strengthens the parts of the brain that deal with language. The hero, Oedipus, is the first person to solve the riddle, thus proving his wisdom and showing himself worthy to pass by the sphinx. (See section 7 for the riddle.) In the play, the sphinx would kill anyone who failed to answer its riddle. The most famous example is the Riddle of the Sphinx, from Sophocles’ Oedipus the King. In ancient societies, they were also thought of as great tests of intelligence and cleverness, and sometimes they are still used this way.

An egg is pretty useless for cooking until you break its shell.įor the most part, riddles are just games – they’re told for fun, and to pass time. But once you know the answer, you realize that it’s actually clock-hands and a clock-face, which is unexpected. When you first hear it, you probably think of a human face and hands. This riddle, like the previous one, works by way of a pun. I have a face and two hands, but no arms or legs. Horseshoes are made from metal, but human shoes (traditionally) were made from leather. The answer to this classic riddle is shoes. What is iron on a horse but leather on a man? In most cases, the word “conundrum” refers to a real, practical problem, rather than a game. The word “conundrum” is sometimes used interchangeably with “riddle,” but this is fairly unusual. Riddles are just one form of brain teaser, alongside crosswords, Sudoku puzzles, and even math problems (when they’re set up for fun). Riddles are sometimes called brain teasers, but this term actually refers to a broader category of thought-based games. Riddles often rely on puns and double entendres – in other words, the key to solving the riddle is to realize that one of the words is being used in a surprising or unexpected way. A riddle is a word puzzle in which one player asks a confusing question, and the other player has to figure out its meaning.

Sudoku meaning urban