Puzzles: The Riddle of the Sphinx


Egyptain Sphinx Photo

A sphinx is a mythological monster with the head and breasts of a woman, the body of a lion, and the wings of a bird. The picture at the left is the famous one from Egypt. However, "The Riddle" concerns a sphinx from ancient Greece.

It seems at the time of such ancient Greeks as Oedipus, Jocasta, and Laius, a sphinx crouched on a rock at the entrance to the city of Thebes and stopped all who were about to enter by asking them to solve a riddle. If they could not solve the riddle, she killed them. When the hero Oedipus solved the riddle, the sphinx killed herself, and the Thebeans made Oedipus their king!

THE RIDDLE:

What is it that has four feet in the morning, two at noon, and three at night?

THE SOLUTION:

HUMANS
They crawl on four limbs while they are a baby, walk upright on two as an adult, and walk with the aid of a cane during old age.


Last update April 2, 2010