I am the beginning of the end, and the end of time and space. I am essential to creation, and I surround every place. What am I?

Good question. After you solve this, only 32 more riddles to go. We’ll help you get started; the answer is the letter “e”. End, timE, spacE, Every placE.

What Are Riddles?

Riddles mostly entail a question that needs to be solved using intelligence and reasoning apart from mere guessing and conventional thinking. They use several strategies that give them a certain twist making the answers trickier and thought provoking. Common techniques would be the use of double meanings or the use of a pun to make the riddle difficult. There are two main types, conundrums and enigmas. Conundrums usually rely on puns and sound similar to a joke, while an enigma involves a description delivered in an accurate but unconventional way, requiring us to determine what is being described. In both cases, we are being presented with something that doesn’t fit in with our traditional way of seeing things.

Example of a Conundrum:
Farmer Joe was cleaning out his big old dusty farm shed. He dragged out an old water container which was full of old dirty water and it weighed 5 kilograms. Joe put something in the container and then it weighed less. What did he put in the container?
Answer: a hole

Example of an Enigma:
Each morning I appear to lie at your feet, all day I follow no matter how fast you run, yet I nearly perish in the midday sun.
Answer: shadow

Riddles are solved all over the world and have been around since before recorded history. In some cultures, they were one of the ways folklore was handed from one generation to the next. Some early riddles came from old English poetry drawing on Anglo-Saxon and Old Norse tradition, other literary ancestry dates all the way back to Plato and Aristotle, and in ancient Greece, riddles were used as a cunning tool, to demonstrate wit and wisdom, and determine life or death. In Greek mythology, the Sphinx used to sit outside of Thebes, asking the same riddle to anyone who passed by. The riddle went as follows:

“What goes on four legs at dawn, two legs at noon, and three legs in the evening?”

Would the traveler fail to solve the riddle, he was cursed to die. No one was ever capable of answering correctly… until one day, Oedipus came along. Oedipus was promised the hand of the princess should he interpret the riddle correctly. As he was famous for his wisdom, Oedipus found the answer to the riddle with ease, replying:

“Man, who as a baby crawls on four legs, then walks on two legs as an adult and in old age walks with a cane as his third leg…”

The Sphinx became so frustrated about this answer that it committed suicide immediately, throwing herself from a high rock.

On a lighter note, riddles are still popular in modern times. We can see them in movies, books, and even apps for phones and tablets. We see one of our favorite super heroes, Batman, using his wits to bring down the Riddler. The Riddler constantly made riddles that revealed his next crime in an attempt to baffle Batman, but they always led to his downfall. Bruce Wayne could solve them, can you?

• Why is an orange like a bell?
  Answer: Because both need to be peeled
• When is the time of a clock like the whistle of a train?
  When its two to two
• Why is a quarrel like a bargain?
  It takes two to make one
• What kind of pins are used in soup?
  Answer: Terrapins
• What was Joan of Arc made of?
  Answer: She was maid of Orleans
• How many sides has a circle?
  Answer: Two, inside and outside

In The Hobbit, J.R.R. Tolkien draws on Norse Mythology when Bilbo and Gollum test their wits in a riddle contest. If Bilbo wins, then Gollum has to show him the way out of a tunnel; if Bilbo loses, he becomes Gollum’s dinner. Yum.

Can you guess the answers to Gollum’s riddles?

• Riddle 1:
  What has roots as nobody sees,
  Is taller than trees,
  Up, up it goes,
  And yet never grows?
• Riddle 2:
  Voiceless it cries,
  Wingless flutters,
  Toothless bites,
  Mouthless mutters.
• Riddle 3:
  It cannot be seen, cannot be felt,
  Cannot be heard, cannot be smelt.
  It lies behind stars and under hills,
  And empty holes it fills.
  It comes out first and follows after,
  Ends life, kills laughter.
• Riddle 4:
  Alive without breath,
  As cold as death;
  Never thirsty, ever drinking,
  All in mail never clinking.
• Riddle 5:
  This thing all things devours;
  Birds, beasts, trees, flowers;
  Gnaws iron, bites steel;
  Grinds hard stones to meal;
  Slays king, ruins town,
  And beats mountain down.

Answers:(1) mountain,(2) wind,(3) dark,(4) fish,(5) time

Obviously, Bilbo wins and Gollum misses out on a delicious meal — otherwise, we wouldn’t have The Lord of the Rings trilogy. What was Bilbo’s winning question?What have I got in my pocket? Sneaky question! Bilbo had the Ring in his pocket.

More recently a riddle game occurs during the Triwizard Tournament in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, the sphinx asked Harry one riddle during the third and final task of the tournament, which was as follows:

First think of the person who lives in disguise,
Who deals in secrets and tells naught but lies.
Next, tell me what’s always the last thing to mend,
The middle of middle and end of the end?
And finally give me the sound often heard
During the search for a hard-to-find word.
Now string them together, and answer me this,
Which creature would you be unwilling to kiss?

The answer to each part is SPY-D-ER, which is obviously “spider.”

Riddles at High Trails

Here at High Trails we use riddles as a way to challenge students to think and work together to solve the riddle at hand during the meals. For every meal in our dining hall, a new riddle is written on our “Food Is Love” board. Students are encouraged to talk about the riddle during their meal. At the end of the meal, students raise their hands in the hopes that they are called upon and able to share their answer to the riddle.

Below are some exciting examples of riddles I had to solve on my Riddle Me This app on my phone. Use your wits and think outside the box to solve the following riddles.

1. Even though I’m everywhere, you often don’t have enough of me. _ _ _ _ _
2. I sound like a fiddle, but I’m much more fickle. _ _ _ _ _ _
3. I’m always running. I never get tired. Sometimes I’m flying when you’re excited. _ _ _ _
4. I help you point and click and I have a thin tail. I can scamper quite quickly and I often sit on your table. _ _ _ _ _
5. I’m worn by the foot and laid by the meter. _ _ _ _ _ _
6. You can have one, throw one and get caught in one, but you can’t catch it, and without me you might smell. _ _ _ _ _ _
7. A kind of marker, which is worse, the better it stays. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
8. Often returned, but never borrowed. Many don’t like to owe me. _ _ _ _ _
9. Give me some black gold and I’ll bolt like a horse. _ _ _ _ _ _
10. Once picked up, I’m hard to break. _ _ _ _ _
11. Work me up, then have a feast. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
12. I serve my kingdom unknowingly, yet willing to die by the sword. _ _ _
13. I always approach, no matter what you do, causing panic and fear, because now its due. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
14. Hold me too long, and you’ll meet your end. _ _ _ _ _ _
15. I’m used to lift things up and down, but if I flap my wings, I can soar off the ground. _ _ _ _ _
16. Born from the earth, you’ve probably heard of me, a style of music, that recently came to be. _ _ _ _
17. I’m sometimes the worst, but often the best. Sitting in your hand, until the time is right. _ _ _

1) Space 2) Riddle 3) Time 4) Mouse 5) Carpet 6) Shower 7) Whiteboard 8) Favor 9) Engine 10) Habit 11) Appetite 12) Bee 13) Deadline 14) Breath 15) Crane 16) Rock 17) Space

While it’s fun to solve riddles the more important part is the thought process that goes into the discovery of the answer. We are challenged to look for more than one meaning and think outside the box, rather than follow a conventional thought process. In doing so, we expand our mindset and rather than taking something as it is given, we look for its deeper meaning and hidden purpose.

At High Trails Outdoor Science School, we literally force our instructors to write about elementary outdoor education, teaching outside, learning outside, our dirty classroom (the forest…gosh), environmental science, outdoor science, and all other tree hugging student and kid loving things that keep us engaged, passionate, driven, loving our job, digging our life, and spreading the word to anyone whose attention we can hold for long enough to actually make it through reading this entire sentence. Whew…. www.dirtyclassroom.com