Just For Fun:
RIDDLES I
Popular riddles as recorded by Entong Anulay
The posting and guessing of riddles, whether passed down from the elders or collected from non-Subanen friends, is a popular form of entertainment. In the riddles below, Subanen life is reflected in the leading of a water buffalo by a rope and travel on a foot path. Notes to the text describe rules and taboos connected with the posing of riddles.
1 Now, guess this: a rope tied to the house, a spider web outside.*
2 The answer is a TRAIL.
3 Now, guess this also: Lingling* passes by , and we all die. 4 Maatmaat* passes by, and we all become alive (again).
5 The answer is NIGHT and DAY.
6 Now, guess: round stones that can reach the sun’s apex.
7 The answer is EYES.
8 Now, guess: a chief’s little child, still dragging his umbilical cord behind him.
9 The answer is a NEEDLE.
10 Now, guess: if you try to carry it on your shoulder, you can’t. 11 But if you try to drag* it along, you can.
12 The answer is a WATER BUFFALO.
13 Now, guess also: Pedro si crying, because he got hit on the head.
14 The answer is a NAIL.
RIDDLES II
By: Agdino Guilingan
Riddles and their answers reflect activities typical to Subanen life. Included here are betelnut-chewing and the snaring of wild pigs, and items such as pandanus leaves used to weave sleeping mats and a bamboo blowgun for hunting birds.
1 Liquid of a kimbukkimbuk* that does not spill, even in a storm.
2 COCONUT MILK.*
3 A small bundle of clothing that can reach the sky.
4 EYES.
5 Paspa* flies away and is instructed not to return.
6 Dry leaves that fall from the top of the trees.
7 A small baby snake that can encircle the earth seven times.
8 A TRAIL.
9 Water in purgatory,* that dry leaves don’t fall onto.
10 COCONUT MILK.
11 Four brothers who also live beside four rivers.
12 There are also four answers to it: (the four ingredients used in betelnut chewing,) betelnut, betel pepper leaves,* lime and tobacco.
13 A pig in a field of grass that can’t be caught in a snare.
14 LICE.*
15 At night, it is leaves of the pandanus* plants. 16 In the daytime, it is a blowgun.*
17 A SLEEPING MAT.*
18 A fire with red embers that is never extinguished.
19 The SUN.
20 Five brothers who have the same thoughts, in life and in death.
21 A person’s five fingers.
22 Sambaya’ sambaya’,* may Father’s wealth and Mother’s wealth become my wealth as well.
23 SUPERNATURAL POWER.
24 I can’t see the lightning, I can only hear the thunder.
25 A BLIND PERSON.
26 I cant see the lightning, but I can’t hear the thunder.
27 A DEAF PERSON.
28 Something that gurgles and rattles, that is captured by five men.
29 Nose mucous, removed by one’s fingers.
RIDDLES III
By: Basilia Quimol Lantas
The answers to the riddles below include the coconut, the banana plant and the giving of bride wealth.
1 Mandingmanding bore a child, and its heart emerged first.
2 The answer to it is BANANAS.
3 It is rocky soil on the inside and a plowed field on the outside.
4 The answer to it is the fruit of a CACAO TREE.
5 When it is small, it is cut off. 6 When it becomes large, it is broken in half.
7 The answer to it is STRING BEANS.
8 A tree on a small island that does not wilt when it is cut.
9 The answer to it is HAIR.
10 A pond in something round, that dead leaves do not fall into.
11 The answer to it is a COCONUT.
12 From the time the world was created, the fine has been twelve pesos;
13 and the making of it was valued at five pesos.
14 The answer to it is engagement and bride wealth.
