The Riddle

The Riddle may refer to:

Music

Literature

Film

Locations

The Riddle (fairy tale)

"The Riddle" (German: Das Rätsel) is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm, tale number 22. It is Aarne-Thompson type 851, winning the princess with a riddle.Andrew Lang included it in The Green Fairy Book. It is sometimes known as A Riddling Tale and is about a man whose wife is transformed into a flower. This is mainly used in children's adaptions of Grimm's Fairy Tales.

Synopsis

There once was a prince who decided to go on a journey with his servant. In a dark forest, they came to a small house, where a maiden warned them that her stepmother was a witch who disliked strangers, but unfortunately there was nowhere else for shelter. The prince and his servant reluctantly entered the witch's house, but before they went to bed, the maiden warned the prince and his servant not to eat or drink anything the witch gave them because it might be poisonous. The next morning, the witch gave the prince's servant a poisonous drink, telling him to give it to his master, but the servant ended up spilling it on the prince's horse, killing it. When he told the prince what had happened and they came to the dead horse, a raven was already eating the corpse. Deciding they may not find better food that day, the servant killed the bird and took it with him. Next, they reached an inn and the servant gave the innkeeper the raven to make food of it. Unknown to the prince and his servant, the inn was really a robbers' den. The robbers returned, and, before killing the travellers, sat down to eat. Immediately after eating a few bites of the raven soup the innkeeper had prepared, the robbers fell down dead from the poison that the raven had in its body. The innkeeper's daughter then showed the prince and his servant the robbers' hidden treasure, but the prince insisted that the daughter keep it.

The Riddle (Five for Fighting song)

"The Riddle" is the title of a song written and recorded by American recording artist Five for Fighting. It was released in May 2006 as the lead single from the album Two Lights. The song peaked at number 40 on the Billboard Hot 100 during an 18-week chart stay. On the Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks chart, the song reached number 4.

Background and content

John Ondrasik has stated that it was the hardest to write of any of his songs, taking 18 months to write. By the end, he had over 100 drafts before he came up with the final version. Although it began as a song on the meaning of life, it later evolved into a song about the love between a father and his son, inspired by his relationship with his own five-year-old.

Critical reception

Chuck Taylor, of Billboard magazine gave the song a mixed review, calling it "refreshingly more uptempo and optimistic than previous 'Superman' and '100 Years,' albeit still probing for the meaning of life." He goes on to say that "the sap factor is pretty high here, limiting the song's appeal to moms and wistful philosophers, and there's little remaining doubt that Five for Fighting is pretty much a one-trick pony."