RIDDLE (Ger. riithsel), a paraphrastic presentation of an unmentioned subject. the design of which is to excite the reader or hearer to the discovery of the meaning hidden under a studied obscurity of expression. In the present day the riddle is a mere jot d'esprit—a sort of witty pastime for idle people; we only meet with it under the form of conundrum (q.v.), but anciently—and its antiquity is very great—it held a far higher place, and was put to far more important uses, although in its inferior phase of conun drum it was likewise a part of the intellectual entertainment at Greek and latterly at Roman banquets. Among the easterns it naturally associated itself with their symbolical modes of thought, and was also, as it still is, abundantly employed for didactic purposes. The so-called Proverbs or sayings attributed to Solomon frequently assume the form of riddles. Josephus relates, on the authority of Dius the Phenician historian, and of Menander of Ephesus, that Hiram king of Tyre and Solomon had once a contest in rid dles or dark sayings, in which Solomon first won a large sum of money from Hiram. but ultimately lost it to Abdemon, one of Hiram's subjects—a curious instance of philo sophieffigambling. Everyreader of the Old Testament is familiar wills the riddle \Odell Samson proposed to the Philistines, and the "enigmas" (as the Septuagint has it) that the queen of Sheba proposed to Solomon, though it is perhaps doubtful if the latter were more than hard or difficult questions plainly put. The riddle is found in the Koran, and several books of riddles exist in Arabic and Persian. It would appear that they were also known to the ancient Egyptians, while among the Greeks they were allied in the earliest times with the oracula, or mystic utterances of the inspired priests, and were generally, as is the case with Samson's riddle, in verse; but in Greece they first came into vogue about the time of the "seven wise men," one of whom, named Kleobulos, as also his daughter Kleobuline, was celebrated for the composition of metrical riddles (griphoi), some of which are still remembered. Even the greater poets did not refuse to introduce the riddle into their writings, or to devote whole poems to the subject—vs, for example, the Syrinx, commonly ascribed to Theocritus. Homer, according to a statement in Plutarch, died of chagrin at not being able to solve a riddle; and the riddle of the Sphinx (see CEDIPIIS) is probably the most celebrated in the whole circle of philo sophical puzzles. Among the Romans professional riddle-makers did not make their appearance till the latest period of Roman literature, the reason assigned for which is the superior gravity and earnestness of the Roman genius, which, it is said, did not easily find pleasure in such modes of intellectual activity. Appuleins wrote a Liter
Ludicrorum et Griphorum, but it is no longer extant, and almost the only name we can fix upon is a artain Cuelius Firmianns Symposius, whose riddles, comprising a hundred hexametrieal triplets, are termed by Aldhelmus (8th c.), apparently with justice, Ca l'Inina inepta.
'The riddle—but more perhaps as an amusement for the baronial hall on winter nights, or for the monastic mess-room, than as a serious intellectual effort—was muck cultivated during the middle ages. This character of lively or amusing puzzle it has ever since for the most part retained. Many specimens of what would now lie termed "riddle" or "conundrum books" exist in French, English, and German collections of manuscripts. and were printed at an early period. One of these, entitled Demands joyous., which nor be rendered " amusing questions." was printed in English by Wynkin de Worde in 1511. Many of these " joyous demands" are simply coarse jests: hut others, again, illustrate the simple, child-like religious belief of mediseval Christendom—e.g., demand: " What bare the best burden that ever was borne?" Response: "The ass that carried our lady when she fled With our Lord into Egypt." Some are really fitted to excite risibility e.g., demand: " What is that that never was and never will be?" Response: "A mouse's nest in a cat's ear."—" What is the worst-bestowed charity that one can give?" " Alms to a blind man; for he would be glad to see the person hanged that gave it to him." The reformation, at least in Protestant countries, checked, if it did not wholly stop, the merry pastime of riddle-making•, but in the 17th c. it began to creep into favor again. Le pere Menestrier, a learned Jesuit, wrote a grave treatise on the subject; and in France riddles soon rivaled in popularity the madrigals and sonnets of the period. The abbe Cot in was a famous fabricator of riddles, and published a recueil of his own and those of his contemporaries, preceded by a dissertation, in which be modestly dubbed himself Le HIT de l'Enigthe (the father of the riddle); but, as a French critic remarks, posterity has not recognized his paternity. In the 18th c. the taste for the manufacture of riddles continued to increase, and most of the brilliant French littera tears, such as Boiieau, Voltaire. and Rousseau, did a little in this line, until, finally, the .3fercure de France became a fortnightly repository of riddles, the solution of which was sufficient to make a reputation in society. In Germany Schiller gave a broader develop ment to the riddle. In his bands it once again became something grave and sibylline, and attained in expression a high degree of literary beauty and force. A good collection of the best riddles is to be found in Ohnesorgen's collection, entitled Sphinx (6 vols. Ber. 1833).