The writing-riddle is an international riddle type, attested across Europe and Asia. Its most basic form was defined by Antti Aarne as 'white field, black seeds', where the field is a page and the seeds are letters.[1] However, this form admits of variations very diverse in length and degree of detail. For example, a version from Astrakhan translates as "the enclosure is white, the sheep are black", while one from the Don Kalmyks appears as "a black dog runs on white snow",[2] and literary riddlers especially have produced long variations on the theme, often overlapping with riddles on pens and other writing equipment.
- ^ Antti Aarne, Vergleichende Rätselforschungen, 3 vols, Folklore Fellows Communications, 26–28 (Helsinki/Hamina: Suomalainen Tiedeakatemia, 1918–20), I 35–73 (p. 35).
- ^ Archer Taylor, 'The Riddle', California Folklore Quarterly, 2 (1943), 129–47 (p. 137).