OT: "Why is a raven like a writing desk?"
Terraformer_Author
Newcomer
Hi guys.
Firstly - I just wanted to let you know that I am still around and that I have not been active on the forums because I, and the rest of my family, have not only been terribly busy lately - but we have also been struck by a rather bad seasonal virus that is only slightly better upon one's physiology than being beaten by overly fatigued prison gaurds, Lol. I sincerely hope that everyone is having, and will have - a wonderful holiday season.
Now herein is the reason why I have titled this thread in such a peculiar way. As of late I have been pondering a most nagging riddle that has perplexed me since childhood. The riddle is the riddle that is one of the most famous - if not THE most infamous - riddles in all of literature. It is the enigmatic poser presented to Alice during the Mad Hatter's tea party in Lewis Carroll's "Through The Looking Glass" (Otherwise known by it's more elaborated alias "Alice In Wonderland"). After the Hatter pops the riddle to Alice, the conversation between Alice and the Hatter conspires thusly:
"Have you guessed the riddle yet?" the Hatter said, turning to Alice again.
"No, I give it up," Alice replied. "What's the answer?"
"I haven't the slightest idea," said the Hatter.
"Nor I," said the March Hare.
Alice sighed wearily. "I think you might do something better with the time," she said, "than wasting it in asking riddles that have no answers."
Now Lewis Carroll recieved bushels of letters from readers - all wanting to know the answer. In response to their inquiries - Carroll prefaced the 1896 edition of "Alice In Wonderland" thusly:
"Enquiries have been so often addressed to me, as to whether any answer to the Hatter's Riddle can be imagined, that I may as well put on record here what seems to me to be a fairly appropriate answer, viz: 'Because it can produce a few notes, tho they are very flat; and it is never put with the wrong end in front!' This, however, is merely an afterthought; the Riddle, as originally invented, had no answer at all."
Despite the fact that Carroll admitted that the riddle indeed "Had no answer", people still persisted in trying to answer it - even connecting their answers to Edgar Allen Poe's "The Raven".
until now - no perfect answer to this riddle has been found....That is...UNTIL NOW!!!
It wasn't that Lewis Carroll had invented a riddle that had no answer - IT DOES INDEED HAVE AN ANSWER!, No - he invented a riddle that was not meant / he did not INTEND to have an answer to - but nevertheless - it indeed DOES. To understand the answer - you have to be familiar with what exactly a 19th century writing desk would look like.
After much pondering in my convolescence from my rather nasty, scratchy little respiratory bug - I have cracked the code, and laid waste to the veil of confoundment. I have solved the unsolvable rantings of the Hatter...BEHOLD - THE KEY IS TURNED - AND THE DOOR IS OPENED!:
Question: "Why is a raven like a writing desk?"
ANSWER: "Because both hold black tipped quills - that bestow upon them the power of flight with proper motion and purpose of will."
OR :
"Because the raven holds a black tipped quill - that when it is moved with purpose of will - begins or resumes a journey. The quill has no place without the raven - and the raven is not a raven without the quill."
BLAM!!!! Lol
.
Firstly - I just wanted to let you know that I am still around and that I have not been active on the forums because I, and the rest of my family, have not only been terribly busy lately - but we have also been struck by a rather bad seasonal virus that is only slightly better upon one's physiology than being beaten by overly fatigued prison gaurds, Lol. I sincerely hope that everyone is having, and will have - a wonderful holiday season.
Now herein is the reason why I have titled this thread in such a peculiar way. As of late I have been pondering a most nagging riddle that has perplexed me since childhood. The riddle is the riddle that is one of the most famous - if not THE most infamous - riddles in all of literature. It is the enigmatic poser presented to Alice during the Mad Hatter's tea party in Lewis Carroll's "Through The Looking Glass" (Otherwise known by it's more elaborated alias "Alice In Wonderland"). After the Hatter pops the riddle to Alice, the conversation between Alice and the Hatter conspires thusly:
"Have you guessed the riddle yet?" the Hatter said, turning to Alice again.
"No, I give it up," Alice replied. "What's the answer?"
"I haven't the slightest idea," said the Hatter.
"Nor I," said the March Hare.
Alice sighed wearily. "I think you might do something better with the time," she said, "than wasting it in asking riddles that have no answers."
Now Lewis Carroll recieved bushels of letters from readers - all wanting to know the answer. In response to their inquiries - Carroll prefaced the 1896 edition of "Alice In Wonderland" thusly:
"Enquiries have been so often addressed to me, as to whether any answer to the Hatter's Riddle can be imagined, that I may as well put on record here what seems to me to be a fairly appropriate answer, viz: 'Because it can produce a few notes, tho they are very flat; and it is never put with the wrong end in front!' This, however, is merely an afterthought; the Riddle, as originally invented, had no answer at all."
Despite the fact that Carroll admitted that the riddle indeed "Had no answer", people still persisted in trying to answer it - even connecting their answers to Edgar Allen Poe's "The Raven".
until now - no perfect answer to this riddle has been found....That is...UNTIL NOW!!!
It wasn't that Lewis Carroll had invented a riddle that had no answer - IT DOES INDEED HAVE AN ANSWER!, No - he invented a riddle that was not meant / he did not INTEND to have an answer to - but nevertheless - it indeed DOES. To understand the answer - you have to be familiar with what exactly a 19th century writing desk would look like.
After much pondering in my convolescence from my rather nasty, scratchy little respiratory bug - I have cracked the code, and laid waste to the veil of confoundment. I have solved the unsolvable rantings of the Hatter...BEHOLD - THE KEY IS TURNED - AND THE DOOR IS OPENED!:
Question: "Why is a raven like a writing desk?"
ANSWER: "Because both hold black tipped quills - that bestow upon them the power of flight with proper motion and purpose of will."
OR :
"Because the raven holds a black tipped quill - that when it is moved with purpose of will - begins or resumes a journey. The quill has no place without the raven - and the raven is not a raven without the quill."
BLAM!!!! Lol
. 
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