Grant wraps up with some Hawaiian riddles from the book Riddling Tales from around the World, by Marjorie Dundas, including this one: This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Hawaiian Riddles”
So I was reading some Hawaiian folklore.
I was actually, and I came across some riddles.
I’m not going to go into the whole tale, but there’s some folklore about riddles in Hawaii, and I thought some of these riddles would be great to share with our listeners.
Oh, please do.
And we’ll link to the whole story later, okay?
Okay.
I have a house, a house with eight rafters, a house with one post.
I carry it with me.
It gives me shelter.
What is it?
A house with eight rafters, one post, gives me shelter.
You carry it with you.
It must be a bumbershoot, an umbrella.
Yes, exactly.
Very good.
How about this one?
My twin, with me from the day I crawled, with me till the day I die, I cannot escape him.
Yet when storms come, he deserts me.
It must be your shadow.
Yes, but what a beautifully put riddle, right?
Yeah, I’ve never heard a shadow described so beautifully.
That’s great.
Yeah, it’s wonderful.
I’ll link to that.
That’s Hawaiian folklore.
It’s a longer tale about a young man who basically overthrows an evil king through the use of riddles.
Cool.
Share your riddles with us.
Send them to words@waywordradio.org.
