, and the search for analogy was
carried out along both sensible and absurd lines, the latter drifting
into a double analogy of thought and form, of which the conundrum is
the logical product.

The literatures of all peoples contain the riddle, which might be
witty or serious as impulse prompted. All bright and clever minds
have seen the possibilities of the pun, and so common is it as an
impromptu form of wit among keen people, so general the temptation to
fall into it, that it is looked upon with disfavor, as a pitfall for
thought, which often prevents it from finishing its course.

The conundrum has, however, an ancient and honorable lineage, and,
while not often given its precise form in conversation or anecdote,
is readily adapted to the permanent embodiment of those flashes of
wit which enlighten and cheer.

The ability to guess and to propound riddles was held in high respect
in early times. Men of great physical prowess were expected to guess
riddles to prove their mental prowess, and many were the contests of
this sort which were held. The stakes in these contests were very
high,--often life or honor. In Norse mythology the prize of such a
contest was once the daughter of the god Thor; in another the life of
the giant Vafthrudnir was forfeit when he failed to win in
competition with the god Odin.

So in the old English ballad of the Elfin-knight, a maiden saves
herself from an evil spirit by successfully guessing his riddles.
Among many primitive peoples the game of riddle-reading was played
with opposing sides, each headed by a champion, and with bets staked
on the outcome. Often in ballads and folklore the hero's escape from
death and final triumph hinge upon the guessing of a riddle.

The Semitic people held in high regard the power to read riddles, and
this power, as in the story of Solomon, blends with the higher
intelligence which makes for wisdom.

Perhaps the most famous of Hebrew conundrums is that of Samson, the
strong of intellect as of body, who, when he found the honey which
the wild bees had placed in the carcass of a lion, read to the
Philistines this riddle: "Out of the eater came forth meat, and out
of the strong came forth sweetness."

Among the Greeks and Romans, as among earlier peoples, all forms of
wit and play of word and fancy were tried and popular. D'Israeli, in
his "Curiosities of Literature," records that "It is certain that
Cicero was an inveterate punster; and he seems to