"Riddles Wisely Expounded" is a traditional English song, dating at least to 1450.
The motif of riddling in folklore is very ancient, the stories of Oedipus and Samson giving two early examples.
There are strong parallels with ballads in other languages, with many German,[3] and Scottish and Irish Gaelic versions known to exist.
In the earliest surviving version of the song,[5] the "foul fiend" proposes to abduct a maiden unless she can answer a series of riddles.
Wol ye here a wonder thynge (Will you hear a wondrous story,) Betwyxt a mayd and the fovle fende?
)In a seventeenth century version entitled "A Noble Riddle Wisely Expounded", the words of each verse are interspersed with a chorus phrase "lay the bent to the bonny broom".
A. L. Lloyd euphemistically describes this as a phrase of "physiological significance", explaining that the word "bent" means a horn.
"If thou canst answer me questions three, Lay the bent to the bonny broom This very day will I marry thee."
The riddles vary, but typical ones include: The most commonly found traditional version in recent times, usually entitled "Ninety-nine and ninety", begins roughly as follows: Now you must answer my questions nine Sing ninety-nine and ninety, Or you aren't God's you are one of mine And who is the weaver's bonny.
American recordings include those performed by the Appalachian traditional singer Texas Gladden (recorded by Alan and Elizabeth Lomax in 1941)[7] Nancy Philley of Fayetteville, Arkansas (1963)[8] and Alfreda Peel of Salem, Virginia (1932).
Modern literary retellings include Juniper, Gentian, and Rosemary by Pamela Dean and "A Diorama of the Infernal Regions, or the Devil's Ninth Question," by Andy Duncan.