Riddle

[Publius]

Here's another ooold school riddle: What goes first on four legs, then two legs, then three? The Riddle of the Sphinx! That's literally one of the oldest in the book, dating back at least to Sophocles in ancient Greece.

[Chic Freak]

The Riddle of the Sphinx! That's literally one of the oldest in the book, dating back at least to Sophocles in ancient Greece. Cool! Has anyone else read Terry Pratchett's Eric where Rincewind grills the Sphinx over this riddle??

[Publius]

Has anyone else read Terry Pratchett's Eric where Rincewind grills the Sphinx over this riddle?? Sad to say, I've never read any of the Discworld books, although I've been meaning to for a long time.

[Chic Freak]

Sad to say, I've never read any of the Discworld books, although I've been meaning to for a long time. I've been addicted to them for about 10 years, in fact it's probably the nerdy thing that I'm most nerdy about! I think he has one of those love-or-hate writing styles, a bit like Douglas Adams, where you either find him hilarious or deeply irritating. Bear in mind that the books don't have to be read in sequence for you to understand what's going on... I'd recommend you skip the first couple and probably start with Equal Rites or Mort and go from there. I also recommend Carpe Jugulum if you like vampires.

[clanglee]

Alright. A story riddle then. . . A very wealthy Sheik has two sons. Each one loved equally by their father. So equally that the Sheik could not decide beteen sons to bequeath his great fortune. Finally he decided upon a contest. He gathered his sons together and told them "On the morrow you shall race for your fortune. Choose your favorite camel, and you shall race across the blazing desert to the town of Heratha. Whoever's camel should arrive last shall win my fortune." This Perplexed the young princes to no end, but at dawn, the two brothers were lined up at the castle gates prepared for their race across this most dangerous desert. A great horn sounded, and they were off!!! By midday the brothers were barely spitting distance past the gate of their castle. The princes realized that they would die of thirst in the desert if they continued at this slow pace. They reached a truce and rode quickly to an Inn along the desert road to spend the night and discuss their predicament. While in the Inn, the lads bemoaned their situation loudly to anyone that would listen. Late at night, while the young princes were dpressed and in their cups, the innkeep came to them. "My lords, I have a solution to your troubles!!" He then told them two words. The princes jumped up immediately in good cheer and raced out the door. They resumed their race at a furious pace. And the next evening one prince rode ahead of the other and crossed into the town winning the race. Which Prince won is not important, nor is the ammount of the wealth he won. What is important to the story are the words of the wise innkeeper. What two words did he say to make the princes race like the wind?

[Publius]

Alright. A story riddle then. . . This is a good one, although I won't divulge the solution. The logic is similar to the riddle of the stones, which goes something like this: A maiden is in love with a strapping young lad, but the evil old nobleman wants her for himself. He makes her an offer: he will put two pebbles in a jar, one white and one black. If she picks the white one, she can marry her true love. But if she picks the black one, she must marry the noble. The whole town gathers to witness the event. The maiden knows, however, that the nobleman, being so evil, has put TWO black pebbles into the jar. How does she outwit him? Bear in mind that the books don't have to be read in sequence for you to understand what's going on... I'd recommend you skip the first couple and probably start with Equal Rites or Mort and go from there. I also recommend Carpe Jugulum if you like vampires. Thanks for the advice!

[clanglee]

This is a good one, although I won't divulge the solution. The logic is similar to the riddle of the stones, which goes something like this: A maiden is in love with a strapping young lad, but the evil old nobleman wants her for himself. He makes her an offer: he will put two pebbles in a jar, one white and one black. If she picks the white one, she can marry her true love. But if she picks the black one, she must marry the noble. The whole town gathers to witness the event. The maiden knows, however, that the nobleman, being so evil, has put TWO black pebbles into the jar. How does she outwit him? Hmmm. . .bleach or white chalk dust? If not gimme another minute or two to think about this one Nope. . never mind. . . got it. Shall I say? Or give others a chance?

[SymphonicX]

Alright. A story riddle then. . . A very wealthy Sheik has two sons. Each one loved equally by their father. So equally that the Sheik could not decide beteen sons to bequeath his great fortune. Finally he decided upon a contest. He gathered his sons together and told them "On the morrow you shall race for your fortune. Choose your favorite camel, and you shall race across the blazing desert to the town of Heratha. Whoever's camel should arrive last shall win my fortune." This Perplexed the young princes to no end, but at dawn, the two brothers were lined up at the castle gates prepared for their race across this most dangerous desert. A great horn sounded, and they were off!!! By midday the brothers were barely spitting distance past the gate of their castle. The princes realized that they would die of thirst in the desert if they continued at this slow pace. They reached a truce and rode quickly to an Inn along the desert road to spend the night and discuss their predicament. While in the Inn, the lads bemoaned their situation loudly to anyone that would listen. Late at night, while the young princes were dpressed and in their cups, the innkeep came to them. "My lords, I have a solution to your troubles!!" He then told them two words. The princes jumped up immediately in good cheer and raced out the door. They resumed their race at a furious pace. And the next evening one prince rode ahead of the other and crossed into the town winning the race. Which Prince won is not important, nor is the ammount of the wealth he won. What is important to the story are the words of the wise innkeeper. What two words did he say to make the princes race like the wind? Swap camels

[clanglee]

This is a good one, although I won't divulge the solution. The logic is similar to the riddle of the stones, which goes something like this: A maiden is in love with a strapping young lad, but the evil old nobleman wants her for himself. He makes her an offer: he will put two pebbles in a jar, one white and one black. If she picks the white one, she can marry her true love. But if she picks the black one, she must marry the noble. The whole town gathers to witness the event. The maiden knows, however, that the nobleman, being so evil, has put TWO black pebbles into the jar. How does she outwit him? Thanks for the advice! Ok then. . .the maiden should chose a stone and then drop it, or better yet hide it and say she dropped it. Then she could say that obviously her choise would be the opposite of whatever is in the jar. So even though she chose a black pebble. people would think she chose the white. Since there is a black pebble in the jar.

[Chic Freak]

Swap camels I thought it was going to be some sort of clever wording resulting in one of the camels winning the inheritance..! "Whoever's camel should arrive last shall win my fortune."

[clanglee]

Swap camels good job by the way. . . not an easy one.

[Publius]

Ok then. . .the maiden should chose a stone and then drop it, or better yet hide it and say she dropped it. Spot-on! A kind of similar logic puzzle: You come to a fork in the road, where one branch leads to a town where everyone always tells the truth and the other leads to a town where everyone always lies. There are no signs telling which is which. One resident from each town is standing at the fork, but you can't tell which is from which town. If you can only ask one of the individuals a single question, how can you know for sure which is the way to the town of truth-tellers?

[Mike70]

here is an ancient one: what walks on 4 legs in the morning, 2 legs in the afternoon and 3 legs in the evening?

[Mutineer]

what walks on 4 legs in the morning, 2 legs in the afternoon and 3 legs in the evening? Man. Crawls on all fours as a baby, walks on two as a man and then uses a cane when elderly. - "What's Black and White and Red all over?" (There is a minor phontic cheat in this question as when asking the riddle in person) ... and Publius ? Stop Googling them. It takes the fun out of it.

[clanglee]

Spot-on! A kind of similar logic puzzle: You come to a fork in the road, where one branch leads to a town where everyone always tells the truth and the other leads to a town where everyone always lies. There are no signs telling which is which. One resident from each town is standing at the fork, but you can't tell which is from which town. If you can only ask one of the individuals a single question, how can you know for sure which is the way to the town of truth-tellers? I always hated this one!!!! Never could wrap my mind around it. Even seeing it in action in Labyrnth didn't help. Here goes though "Would he(the other person) say that you always lie?" If you ask the truth teller then he would say yes because the liar would lie and say the truth teller lies. If you ask the liar, he would say No, because the truth teller would answer yes, and the liar cannot tell the truth. Well. . looks like I was able to get it after all