for view-point, or form,
or flavor. We must not demand more from Filipino riddles than from
our own. Some knowledge of local products, customs, conditions, is
necessary for the understanding of their meaning; when understood,
they are fully equal to ours in shrewdness, wit and expression. Krauss
emphasizes the fact that everywhere riddles tend to coarseness and
even to obscenity and discusses the reasons. What is true elsewhere
is true here; a considerable number of Filipino riddles are coarse;
we have introduced them but emphasize the fact that any scientifically
formed collection of German or English riddles would contain some
quite as bad.

Probably few of our readers have considered the taxonomy of
riddles. Friedreich offers a loose and unscientific classification
as follows:

I. The Question Riddle.
II. The Simple Word Riddle (with seven sub-divisions).
III. The Syllable Riddle or Charade.
IV. The Letter Riddle.
1. With reference to sound.
2. With reference to form.
V. Punctuation Riddles.
VI. The Rebus.
VII. Complex Riddles; combination of two or more simple types.
VIII. Number Riddles.

Several of these forms occur in our collection.

More scientific than Friedreich's work is Petsch's _Studien ueber
das Volksraetsel_. His analysis and dissection of riddle forms best
enable us to test the indigenous content of our Filipino riddles. He
recognizes two fundamental riddle types. He says: "Two groups of
riddles have long been distinguished in the collections, the true
rhymed riddles and the short 'catch-questions' expressed in prose. The
difference is not only in form but in content. 'True riddles' have
as purpose the describing of an object in veiled, thought-arousing,
perhaps misleading, poetical clothing, which, from this presentation of
its appearance, its source, its utility, etc., shall be recognized by
the intelligence, i.e., can and shall be guessed. 'Catch-questions,'
on the contrary, are not to be guessed, the questioner intending
himself to give the solution; at their best they are intended to trick
the hearer, and since their solution is impossible to the uninitiated
are not 'true riddles' but false ones. Since I propose to divide the
total riddle material of each single nation between these two great
chief groups, may I not somewhat extend the scope of the latter,
including some things which are rejected from most c