Susanna Calkins, Author
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So who's up for some seventeenth-century riddles?

9/25/2012

10 Comments

 
Picture
1631 STC /1476:06
Riddles, jests and other merriments always sold well in seventeenth-century England.

Then, as now, people enjoyed a good laugh--being surrounded by plague, terrible sickness, fire, Puritans, etc may have had something to do with that!

When I came across A Book of Merrie Riddles--claimed to be "very delightful for youth to try their wits"--I couldn't resist offering a few to YOU.   Let's see what you make of these seventeenth-century jests.  First, I'll give you few questions with solutions. Then, I'll give you a few without; see what you come up with.

Question: I wound the heart and please the eye. Tell me what I am, by and by.

Solution: Beauty.


Question: When I did live, then was I dumb, and yield no harmony: But being dead, I do afford most pleasant melody.

Solution: Any musical instrument made of wood.

Easy, right?

Of course there are a few a little more inscrutable today:

Question: Who wears his end about his middle once in his time?
(I would let you figure out this one, but it's pretty contextually situated.)

Solution: A thief whose arms are tied with the halter, wherewith he shall be executed.


Hmmm....

So here are a few more...what do you think are the solutions?

Question 1: I do walk, yet I do not go. I do drink, yet no thirst lack;  I do eat, yet do not feed; I do wake, yet no work make.  What am I?

And another:

Question 2: I was not, I am not, I shall not be, yet I do walk as men do see. What am I?

**********************************************************
Let me know: Are you as smart as a 17th century youth?
I'll post the answers soon.....

       *********SPOILERS!!! Solutions ahead!!!***************


I figure that's sufficient space, if you're really concerned.

Question 1: so, so, SO LAME. The solution is "Someone moving about in a dream."

Question 2: so, so, so, SO, SO, SO LAME! (or fiendishly clever, you decide).  The solution is "A person with the surname of 'Not'."  As in Susie Not. NOT!!!
10 Comments
Jaynes
9/26/2012 02:48:13 am

This is driving me nuts...its taking up precious mental capacity here at work...Trying to prototype a vision upgrade for this robot and my mind is stuck somewhere in the 17th century...I will get it though, can't back down from a challenge..Thank you very much...

Reply
Susie Calkins link
9/26/2012 07:51:34 am

Maybe the answer IS robot for both...

Reply
Jaynes
9/26/2012 12:16:52 pm

I'm about to cry Uncle on these two...Those precocious little 17th century brats are starting to annoy me...
The first riddle may be an inanimate object like sunshine...
The second riddle must allude to something not bound by time, ...like a dream

I would like hard proof these kids could pull this stuff off :)

Jeff Porten link
9/26/2012 06:30:21 am

I'm with Jaynes. The Sphinx is going to eat me.

Reply
Susie link
9/26/2012 07:52:35 am

Hmmmm....that doesn't sound like the Jeff I know....

Reply
Matt
9/26/2012 07:11:09 am

21st century answers:

(1) A yo yo
(2) Schroedingers cat

Sadly, I know the latter wasn't around in the 17th century, and I have a feeling the former wasn't available either. My conclusion: I am not smarter than a 17th c. 5th grader.

Reply
Susie link
9/26/2012 07:53:44 am

what kind of yo-yo doesn't go? :-) Excellent answer for number 2.

Reply
Susie link
9/28/2012 05:59:12 am

Jaynes, excellent guesses. The first real solution is a total cheat, and maybe the second one is too!

Reply
bekerys
9/30/2012 05:48:58 am

For the second one, I was thinking "a shadow". Hey, Susie, maybe Dad would like these!

Reply
Susie link
9/30/2012 09:09:35 am

bekerys,
"Shadow" was a good answer. I bet it would have been right in another riddle book! Sure, share with him!

Reply



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    Susanna Calkins

    Historian. Mystery writer. Researcher. Teacher.  Occasional blogger.

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  • Home
  • Lucy Campion Mysteries
    • A Murder at Rosamund's Gate
    • From the Charred Remains
    • The Masque of a Murderer
    • A Death Along the River Fleet
    • The Sign of the Gallows
    • The Cry of the Hangman
    • Death Among the Ruins
  • The Speakeasy Murders
    • Murder Knocks Twice
    • The Fate of a Flapper
  • Short Stories
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  • News & Events
    • Event Photos
    • Archived Guest Posts & Interviews
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  • 17th c. England
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