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Grex > Iq > #158: The White Queen's riddle | |
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valeyard
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The White Queen's riddle
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Sep 21 12:33 UTC 2001 |
First, the fish must be caught.
That is easy. A baby, I think, could have caught it.
Next, the fish must be bought.
That is easy. A penny, I think, would have bought it.
"Now cook me the fish!"
That is easy, and will not take more than a minute.
"Let it lie in a dish!"
That is easy, because it already is in it.
"Bring it here. Let me sup."
It is easy to set such a dish on the table.
"Take the dish cover up!"
Ah, THAT is so hard that I fear I'm unable.
For it holds it like glue, holds the lid to the dish,
While it lies in the middle.
Which is easiest to do,
Un-dish-cover the fish or dishcover the riddle?
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| 15 responses total. |
gelinas
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response 1 of 15:
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Sep 21 18:44 UTC 2001 |
I don't know which is easier; I've shucked oysters and enjoyed steamed clams
on more than one occasion.
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rcurl
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response 2 of 15:
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Sep 21 19:12 UTC 2001 |
They aren't fish.
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brighn
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response 3 of 15:
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Sep 21 19:27 UTC 2001 |
Sole/soul would satisfy parts of the riddle, but renders other parts
nonsensical.
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valeyard
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response 4 of 15:
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Sep 22 23:34 UTC 2001 |
I'm afraid Joe has it. Congratulations! I've never seen anyone solve it
before (I didn't, I had to take a sneak peek at the answer!). The answer is
an oyster. I read this riddle in "Alice through the Looking Glass" and just
loved it, because it was so clever. Does anyone else have some clever
riddles?
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gelinas
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response 5 of 15:
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Sep 23 01:01 UTC 2001 |
I didn't remember seeing it there.
I can't think of any interesting ones right now.
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brighn
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response 6 of 15:
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Sep 23 03:20 UTC 2001 |
It's in chapter 9, in all the nonsense banter between the Red and White
Queens.
http://www.mathematik.uni-halle.de/books/alice/alice_28.html
But oysters aren't fish, and they don't cost a penny anymore. And actually,
the answer is apparently Martin Gardner's; the answer doesn't appear in that
chapter (or, apparently, in the book).
http://varatek.com/scott/carrol_riddles.html
.
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rcurl
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response 7 of 15:
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Sep 23 05:14 UTC 2001 |
That purported "answer" to that riddle is sure fishy.
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gelinas
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response 8 of 15:
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Sep 23 05:29 UTC 2001 |
They've been called "shellfish" for a long time.
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rcurl
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response 9 of 15:
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Sep 23 17:26 UTC 2001 |
Good point...one would have to accept the answer "shellfish", even if
not a particular species thereof.
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brighn
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response 10 of 15:
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Sep 23 17:27 UTC 2001 |
point... and crawfish/crayfish aren't "fish" either...
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valeyard
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response 11 of 15:
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Sep 24 02:18 UTC 2001 |
Yes, I got my answer from Martin Gardner's notations in "The Annotated Alice"
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jhudson
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response 12 of 15:
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Oct 4 18:40 UTC 2001 |
I've cooked up some hard ones (riddles),
but none like this. O well, try this:
A man is downstairs. There are three lightswitches.
Upstares, there is a light bulb in the closet. The
man must determine which switch controls the light
bilb, but may only go upstaris one time.
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brighn
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response 13 of 15:
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Oct 5 03:09 UTC 2001 |
He turns on one light switch, call it A. He waits ten minutes. He turns A off,
then switches on B, then goes upstairs. If the light is on, it's B. If the
light is off but warm to the touch, it's A. If the light is off and cool to
the touch, it's C.
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jhudson
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response 14 of 15:
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Oct 9 18:10 UTC 2001 |
Good.
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kiddo
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response 15 of 15:
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Oct 19 05:32 UTC 2001 |
Critical thinking it put me in
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