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Topic: Ten in all (Read 607 times) |
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maryl
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I saw ten in all, roaming the greensward,
six brothers strutting with their sisters;
they had living spirits. A garment of skin -
there was no mistaking it - hung on the wall
of each one's house. And none were worse off,
nor their movements more painful, though
they must gnaw at the grey-green shoots,
robbed of their garments, roused by the might
of the guardian of heaven. New clothing
is furbished for those who before walked out naked;
they scatter and roam over the land.
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aero_guy
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Re: Ten in all
« Reply #1 on: Oct 20th, 2003, 4:13am » |
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Hmmm, a tough one. Sounds vaguely familiar, but probably just because I have looked at so many of these. I have some thoughts on parts of it, but nothing fits it all. Some ideas:
Ten alwasy makes me think fingers, but the male/female is odd. The loss of skin makes me think snakes or sheep (being shorn). Hey, it seems that might work. The only problems are, why ten? Why six male and four female? Still doesn't seem quite right to me. Other ideas are hermit crabs. The change of skin also sounds vaguely butterfly like. I am going to have to think about this.
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Speaker
Uberpuzzler
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Re: Ten in all
« Reply #2 on: Oct 20th, 2003, 6:19pm » |
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I agree this is a tuffy.
The six brothers and four sisters seems to be pivotal. Some of my ideas:
Trees on the greensward, changing their skins as their leaves change color and then fall off and come back in the spring.
Maybe the skinds hanging on the walls means hanging on the outside walls (the surrounding branches of the trees).
Gnawing on the shoots the branches rubbing together in the spring time as the shoots come out.
So, I have nothing to say about the brother sister part, unless the trees are of a species whose name indicates a sibling relationship. Then, why four and six?
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maryl
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Actually, remember this is an old riddle; and thinking about it, I have to say the terminology has changed today. I think today it would be considered ten females, the rest stays the same though.
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otter
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Re: Ten in all
« Reply #4 on: Oct 22nd, 2003, 1:27pm » |
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on Oct 19th, 2003, 10:40am, maryl wrote:I saw ten in all, roaming the greensward,
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they scatter and roam over the land. |
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Hidden ::Frustration set in on this one so I did a quick net search which indicates that this is part of the Exeter Riddles dating from the 10th century. The answer given is ten chickens, but if that is correct, I sure don't see it.
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| « Last Edit: Oct 22nd, 2003, 1:28pm by otter » |
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aero_guy
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Re: Ten in all
« Reply #5 on: Oct 22nd, 2003, 2:11pm » |
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I read all the Exeter riddles a year or so ago and posted the ones with reasonable solutions here. Don't seem to recall this one though.
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maryl
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on Oct 22nd, 2003, 1:27pm, otter wrote:
Hidden ::Frustration set in on this one so I did a quick net search which indicates that this is part of the Exeter Riddles dating from the 10th century. The answer given is ten chickens, but if that is correct, I sure don't see it.
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Otter, I tend to agree with you, I think they got their lines crossed here- I think the answer is sheep, that seems to make more sense, unless they used to pluck all their chickens before they decided to cook them.
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Re: Ten in all
« Reply #7 on: Oct 23rd, 2003, 5:04pm » |
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Chickens. I cry fowl play.
Sheep seems to fit much better.
Maybe it was customary for the church to keep its flock on the town square. Further bending reality to fit the puzzle, mayhap the church was allotted exactly ten sheep, six of which were rams. This would get the guardian of heaven in there.
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maryl
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Speaker, that would explain the "strutting".
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Speaker
Uberpuzzler
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Re: Ten in all
« Reply #9 on: Oct 23rd, 2003, 5:20pm » |
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As in rams strutting. Yes. Before the ovine answer I figured that strutting was the only thing going for chickens.
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They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. <Ben Franklin>
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aero_guy
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Re: Ten in all
« Reply #10 on: Oct 23rd, 2003, 11:03pm » |
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The male/female bit sucks. That was the one reason I threw out sheep in the first place. Riddles piss me off when they aren't as vlever as I think they are.
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Re: Ten in all
« Reply #11 on: Oct 23rd, 2003, 11:12pm » |
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I agree, the gender thing is such a large part of the riddle, or maybe just conspicuous. That is needs to be included in the answer. Some things can be let go as fluff, but specific mention of 6 brothers and 4 sisters are (should be) important details.
I haven't caught up on the history of this riddle yet, but if people have thought the answer was chickens for hundreds of years I claim "Emperor's New Clothes!" Some historian made a mistake and no one dared calle him on it.
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aero_guy
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Re: Ten in all
« Reply #12 on: Oct 23rd, 2003, 11:31pm » |
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There are all kinds of problems with the Exeter riddles. Many of them were not recovered in full and only part of them remain. Several of them did not include answers. Between translations and such it is best just to take them as ancient poetry and notice how long people have been posing riddles. Also, I believe they are thought to have some sort of religious importance, riddles have been a part of some very old religions for a long time and were thought to possess mystical significance.
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maryl
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on Oct 23rd, 2003, 11:03pm, aero_guy wrote:| The male/female bit sucks. That was the one reason I threw out sheep in the first place. Riddles piss me off when they aren't as vlever as I think they are. |
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Sorry I pissed you off there Aeroguy, but I've got a joke for you:
Why did the chicken cross the road with a gun and a pair of scissors?
Answer: So he could shoot across the road, and cut around the corner. - Awww  , or maybe, so he could shoot across the road and give all the sheep a haircut.
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