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Rigged Riddle: Difference between revisions

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== [[Oral Tradition]], [[Folklore]], Myths, Religion, and Legends ==
* Odin did this a couple of times in [[Norse Mythology]] - once in ''Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks'' (The Saga of Hervör and Heidrek), where a disguised Odin asked numerous riddles of King Heidrek, and again in the poem ''Vafþrúðnismál'' with Vafþrúðnir, who exchanged riddles with Odin. On both occasions, he used the same question: "What did Odin speak into Baldr’s ear before he was placed on the pyre?"
* [[The Bible]]'s [[The Bible/Source/Judges|book of Judges]] has Samson tear apart a young lion on the way to wed his first wife (a Philistine woman); when he later came across the corpse, a beehive filled with honey was inside. Samson used that as the basis of the followinga riddle: “Out of the eater, something to eat; out of the strong, something sweet.” This is one of the earliest examples of a Rigged Riddle that is "properly" formatted as a riddle, rather than a straightforward question with a secret answer. Samson offered a prize of 30 soft under shirts (sedin) and good suits (chalipha) to the winner. ThisThe isPhilistines onepresent ofcould not solve it and instead turned to Samson's first wife, who weaseled the earliestanswer examplesout of ahim; RiggedSamson Riddleonly thatrealized isthe "properly"deception formattedafterward, asbut aresolved riddle,to rathermake thangood on the bet - by traveling to Ashkelon and [[Disproportionate Restitution|taking the clothes from the thirty Philistines he would murder there]]. This culminated in a straightforwarddivorce questionand withset in motion a secretdivinely-ordained answerseries of escalating fights between Samson and the Philistines that would define the rest of his account.
** Regardless, the Philistines present could not solve it and instead turned to Samson's first wife, who weasels the answer out of him. Samson realized this, but resolved to make good on the bet regardless - by traveling to Ashkelon and [[Disproportionate Restitution|taking the clothes from the thirty Philistines he would murder there]]. This would culminate in a divorce and set in motion a divinely-ordained series of escalating fights between Samson and the Philistines that would define the rest of his account.
* What is [[Rumpelstiltskin]]’s name? Indeed, the protagonist only guesses correctly because one of her messengers lucked out.
 
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