Finnic riddles

[6] Most traditional Finnish and Estonian riddles consist of a simple pair of statements, like 'kraatari menee läpi kylän, eikä sanoo hyvää huomenta' ('the tailor goes through the village without saying good morning'), whose answer is 'needle and thread without an end knot' (collected in Naantali in 1891); the common 'isä vielä syntymässä, kuin lapset laajalle liikkuu' ('the father is just being born when the sons are already fighting a war'), to which the answer is 'fire and sparks' (this example being from Joroinen from 1888);[7] or the Estonian 'Üks hani, neli nina?'

Kontio korvesta tulee kahdeksalla kantapäällä neljän silmän mulkkinalla kahden hännän huiskinalla, luiset, puiset pulkuttimet, katajaiset kalkuttiment, hihnaiset hitivitimet, tammiset takatepulit.

From the backwoods comes a bruin upon eight heels, with the glaring of four eyes, with the whisking of two tails, bony, woody go-abouts clappers of juniper, strappy strap-tuggers, rear wadd-e-lers of oak.

At times riddles allude to traditional mythology, mostly through passing reference to people, beings or places,[12] and to other poetic genres such as elegy or charms.

[13] Records of riddles provide some of the earliest evidence for Finnish-language literature: the first grammar of Finnish, Linguae Finnicae brevis institutio by Eskil Petraeus (1649) included eight illustrative riddles, including 'caxi cullaista cuckoi ylitze orren tappelewat' ('two golden cocks fight over a beam'), the answer to which is 'eyes and nose', and 'Pidempi pitke puuta | matalambi maan ruoho' ('taller than a tall tree | lower than the grass of the earth'), to which the answer is 'a road'.

The course of the game appears in actual fact to have been such that the unsuccessful participant was dressed into funny clothing and was sent into the courtyard, vestibule, or kitchen corner.

A part of the players can now pretend to be Hymylä folk who discuss the coming of the stranger and answer his questions.

[19] Examples of sexual riddles include 'kaks partasuuta miestä vetelee yhteistä sikaaria' ('two bearded men smoking a cigar together'), to which the answer is 'naiminen' ('fucking') and 'kaksi tikkaa takoo yhden ämmän persieen' ('two woodpeckers jab one woman's cunt'), to which the answer is 'huhmar ja kaksi puista petkeltä' ('mortar and two wooden pestles').

[20] Though not particularly common, riddles that refer to figures of traditional Finnic mythology have excited considerable interest among scholars.