Riddles are some of the most fascinating inventions of mankind. The amount of wit, wisdom, and cleverness that it takes to come up with a good riddle is astounding. If you scour the internet you can find some simple and basic ones, but great riddles are few and far between. I can only think of a few examples in literature (Homer’s Odyssey, Bilbo and Smegal in The Hobbit) and I have always felt that they pack a tiny punch when I really brood on them. I am wondering what is the best riddles that our world authors have produced. I feel like riddles are a literary tool that is underused, and hard to find, particularly because of the niche kind of wit that must exist in order to create some so unique and original. What are some of the best riddles that you have read, or perhaps even heard by extension of a book?
by This_Solid100
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In the ancient play *Oedipus Rex* by Sophocles, Oedipus becomes king of Thebes by solving the riddle of the Sphinx: “What is the creature that walks on four legs in the morning, two legs at noon, and three in the evening?”
He correctly answers “A man, who crawls on four legs in infancy, walks on two legs in adulthood, then walks with a staff in old age.” Her spell over the city broken, the Sphinx hurls herself off a cliff and everyone rejoices.
Then some bad stuff happens, but it’s still a great riddle.
All the riddles in Stephen King’s Dark Tower series are fun, but I particularly love the silly/gross ones from Eddie.
“What’s green, weighs a hundred tons, and lives at the bottom of the ocean? Moby Snot, the Great Green Whale.”