Humans, demigods, faeries, who doesn't love a good riddle? Myths and Fairy Tales are full of them. I was looking up some good ones this week when I found the answer to the worlds greatest most puzzling riddles! No, not the riddle of the sphynx. Any precocious seven year old knows that one. I mean the riddle of the Mad Hatter from Lewis Carrol's Alice in Wonderland.
Why is a Raven like a Writing Desk?
Even the Mad Hatter himself says there is no answer. An answer which no one has ever accepted! Because every riddle must have an answer, right?
My sisters and I decided it was because they both had legs and got inky black. I also like answers, “The notes for which they are noted are not noted for being musical notes" and "Because Poe wrote on both". Aldous Huxley put forth that it is "Because there is a B in Both and an N in Neither".
HOWEVER, it turns out that so many fans wrote and asked Lewis Carrol for the answer that HE WROTE an answer in a preface to the 1865 edition of Alice in Wonderland! And Drum Roll Please!
"Because it can produce a few notes, though they are very flat; and it is nevar put with the wrong end in front!"
Note that spelling is important! ;-)
Any how I was so excited I just had to share it with you all!
Resources:
Duisen, Michael van. Top 10 Intriguing Riddles From History. Listverse.com. 2013 Oct. 27. Web. 2015 Jul. 31
Inglis-Arkell, Esther. The answer to the most famous unanswerable fantasy riddle. io9.com. 2012 Jan. 5 Web. 2015 Jul 31
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