ABSTRACT
The origins and notions of riddles and the riddling process have occupied folklore and linguistics scholars for the whole of the twentieth century, and whilst much valuable work has undeniably been done, the concept of the riddle has usually been examined as a separate phenomenon of vernacular language, rather than as part of a strong and developing oral narrative tradition. Indeed it may be argued that the study of riddles has no place within an investigation into narrative traditions, that riddles are not stories at all. Riddles, like stories, may be orally transmitted, linguistically shaped pieces of communicative folklore, but they do not possess the narrative complexities of the story, such as sequencing, plot, character development, etc.. Whilst it may be true that the two forms are separate in that our conventional notion of a story expects a series of events and occurrences to be organised into a narrative framework, we must, nevertheless, recognise that riddling and storytelling traditions (and, thus, riddles and stories) are interlinked in a number of ways and that an understanding of a riddling tradition can only serve to enhance and inform our understanding of wider narrative practices and conventions.
