Riddles: Perspectives on the Use, Function and Change in a Folklore Genre

✍ Scribed by Annikki Kaivola-Bregenhøj

• Publisher: Finnish Literature Society
• Year: 2001
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 188
• Series: Studia Fennica Folkloristica, 10
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

Riddles are a journey into a fascinating world rich in delightful metaphors and ambiguity. This book is based on material drawn from all over the world and analyses both traditional true riddles and contemporary joking questions. It introduces the reader to different riddling situations and the many functions of riddles, wich vary from education to teasing, and from defusing a heated situation to entertainment.

✦ Table of Contents

FOREWORD AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 7
1. INTRODUCTION 9
The well-known riddles and sources 11
The changing riddle tradition 14
The contemporary riddle 16
Riddles and other forms of folklore 25
Trends in research 29
2. DEBATE ON THE BASIC ISSUES 38
Riddle elements 38
Definitions of the riddle 47
3. THE SUBGENRES OF THE RIDDLES 54
True riddles 56
Joking questions 57
Visual riddles 62
Wisdom questions 68
Puzzles 70
Parody riddles 72
Literary riddles 75
4. SEXUAL RIDDLES 79
Erotic teasing 81
The use of sexual riddles today 83
Sexual picture puzzles and spoonerisms 87
5. THE CONTEXTS AND FUNCTIONS OF RIDDLES 92
Riddling situations 94
Incidental riddling 96
The traditional contexts and users of sexual riddles 101
Riddle contests and organised games 105
Riddles as part of their context 109
The rules and restrictions governing the performance of riddles 113
The journey to Hymylä – the Finnish way of punishing
the poor riddlee 114
The functions of riddles and riddling 118
A contemporary case in Northern Ireland 123
6. THE EXPRESSIVE DEVICES OF RIDDLES 128
Ambiguity 130
Riddle metaphors 135
The culture-bound riddle metaphor 138
Riddle formulae 141
The international riddle model 143
The semantic formula 146
7. FROM IMAGE TO ANSWER 152
The relationship between the riddle metaphor and the answer 152
One image, many answers 153
Is it a case of guessing? 157
Arbitrary and conventional answers 159
8. THE FUTURE OF RIDDLE RESEARCH 163
BIBLIOGRAPHY 167
ABBREVIATIONS 174
INDEX 175