Riddles

This file contains examples of riddles in Nyag skadThis collection of 77 audio files focuses on weddings and weddings speeches but also contains: folk tales, folk songs, riddles, tongue twisters, and local history from Bang smad Village and Ri sne Village, Bang smad Township, Nyag rong CountyWorld Oral Literature Projec

Teaching metalinguistic awareness and reading comprehension with riddles

The article reports on multiple meanings in sentences and metalinguistic awareness in education. Comprehension of lexical ambiguity and structural ambiguity are presented as key components of reading education. The author explores the use of riddles in teaching language comprehension and having students develop their own riddles. The author concludes that riddles can encourage metalinguistic skill development and awareness. Other topics include homonyms, ambiguous sentences, riddle books, and brainstorming

Say What I Mean: Metaphor and the Exeter Book Riddles

The Exeter Book riddles are a heterogeneous collection, and at first glance it seems they have little III common beyond the riddle format and the final teasing challenge, Say what I mean, or Say what I am. The riddles range in length from a few lines to over a hundred, in tone from the religious to the mundane to the obscene; their subjects can be as specific as a butter churn or as broad as creation itself. One crucial similarity, however, does unify the riddles: all (well, almost all) are built around underlying, unstated metaphors. These metaphors-- such as a sword is a warrior, a ship is a dragon, water is a mother-- shape the riddles, governing their content and structure. (A small minority of the Exeter Book riddles are non-metaphoric. I will return to them later, but the thesis will concentrate on the metaphoric riddles). Recognition of the bond between riddles and metaphor dates back at least to Aristotle. Good riddles do, in general, provide us with satisfactory metaphors, he writes in the Rhetoric, for metaphors imply riddles, and therefore a good riddle can furnish a good metaphor (1405b

Matthias Johann Eisen mõistatuste kogumise organiseerija ja publitseerijana aastatel 1869-1890

Matthias Johann Eisen (1857-1934), the grand old man of folklore collecting in Estonia, published five books. While compiling the first of these, named Eesti rahva mõistatused [The Riddles of Estonian Folk] (1890), during the years 1887-1888, M. J. Eisen organised an interesting collection campaign, which the present article explores in more detail. By the year 1887 M. J. Eisen had come through two principally different periods in his interest in riddles - as a schoolboy he became acquainted with authentic folk repertoire that he recorded in manuscripts; and since 1876 he published his and his friends' self-made riddles in print. While collecting riddles during the period 1887-1888 (in total for 16 months), M. J. Eisen resorted to locals, as had been previously done in Estonia. In the lofty style characteristic of the contemporary time he communicated with contributors through the press by publishing two appeals and in total 16 reports on the progress of the collection campaign, where he gave the names of the contributors who had sent riddles, estimated the amount of the material, highlighted parishes where the collection work had been the most successful and encouraged people to write the riddles down . Altogether 67 contributors from 45 parishes participated in the collection campaign, and sent 5647 riddles in 78 postings. One letter contained 72 entries on average, more substantial ones had as much as 300. The riddles are written down in literary language, although a few dialect forms or words are present; for some unknown words an explanation is given. Collected manuscripts are stored in the Estonian Folklore Archives in a 495-page quarto-format volume of SKS, Eisen. Cover letters of the contributors provide valuable information about people from whom the riddles were collected, estimations to what extent riddles are still known in oral tradition (`a genre in decay'), etc. The most active contributors were schoolteachers (in total 20) and farmers (7); some have later become well-known figures in Estonian cultural history. The material sent to M. J. Eisen was relatively authentic; however, 10,6% (ca 600 texts) have been copied from printed sources or regarded later as self-made creation; this amounts to remarkably less than the total average of riddle collections (33%). On the basis of the riddles collected in 1887-1888, M. J. Eisen compiled Eesti rahva mõistatused that contained 1770 riddles and 10 riddle songs. Together with the improved edition in 1913, it remained the most comprehensive publication of Estonian riddles until recently an academic publication Eesti mõistatused [Estonian Riddles] (2001-2002) was published. M. J. Eisen's book was introduced to the international audience by Andres Dido, a literary scholar working in Paris, who in 1894 published under the heading Devinettes Estiniennes a short summary based on the book's foreword and French translations of 50 riddles in the journal Revue des traditions populaires. In evaluating M. J. Eisen's contribution, one should take into consideration that folklore collection (with the help of locals) was only as a sideline to his regular profession and complicated personal life during this period. The goal he had set to himself - to publish a collection of Estonian riddles that would at least equal in size to E. Lönnrot's Suomen Kansan Arvoituksia ynnä 135 Viron Arvoituksen kanssa [Finnish Folk Riddles with 135 Estonian Riddles] (Helsinki, 1844) - he fulfilled. The presently discussed collection campaign was an actual start to Eisen's later collection work; everything preceding appears random and marginal

Dignity: Two Riddles and Four Concepts

“Dissecting Bioethics,” edited by Tuija Takala and Matti Häyry, welcomes contributions on the conceptual and theoretical dimensions of bioethics. The section is dedicated to the idea that words defined by bioethicists and others should not be allowed to imprison people's actual concerns, emotions, and thoughts. Papers that expose the many meanings of a concept, describe the different readings of a moral doctrine, or provide an alternative angle to seemingly self-evident issues are therefore particularly appreciated. The themes covered in the section so far include dignity, naturalness, public interest, community, disability, autonomy, parity of reasoning, symbolic appeals, and toleration

Ikaan riddles, proverbs and a story – Iwe owe, alo ati itan aroso ni ede Ikaan

Self-published book of riddles, proverbs and a story told in Ikaan by members of the Ikaan-speaking community, written in a trial orthography for Ikaan with Yoruba and English translations