Neck riddle

<h2 id="examples">Examples</h2>
<p>Neck riddles include <a href="/facts/Bilbo_Baggins/F9J2yoeT">Bilbo Baggins</a>'s final riddle to <a href="/facts/Gollum/GgooTk1b">Gollum</a> in <i><a href="/facts/The_Hobbit/Tt5fpB1m">The Hobbit</a></i> ("What have I got in my pocket?") and <a href="/facts/Odin/4XHsn2RF">Óðinn</a>'s final riddles to <a href="/facts/Vaf%C3%BEr%C3%BA%C3%B0nir/v2b1MGKI">Vafþrúðnir</a> in the Old Norse poem <i><a href="/facts/Vaf%C3%BEr%C3%BA%C3%B0nism%C3%A1l/Fu9MUl1X">Vafþrúðnismál</a></i> and to King Heiðrekr in the <i><a href="/facts/G%C3%A1tur_Gestumblinda/sgSHAIRC">Gátur Gestumblinda</a></i> in <i><a href="/facts/Hei%C3%B0reks_saga/eXklf9zj">Heiðreks saga</a></i> ("What did Óðinn whisper in Baldr's ear before Baldr was cremated?").
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<h2 id="literary-function">Literary function</h2>
<p>In the assessment of <a href="/facts/Roger_D._Abrahams/Vodau4Va">Roger D. Abrahams</a>, neck riddles
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<p>are not riddles but reportings of riddling situations in a dramatic context. They function in contexts of this sort not as riddles, but as devices which heighten dramatic tension and lead to a satisfying dramatic resolution. The answers cannot be decipherable to the audience because if they could be figured out, the narrative movement would be destroyed. But this is not true of most riddles which are descriptive and create a poetic image. [...] The neck-saving story commonly involves a confrontation with death by the protagonist. The story turns on how to convert Death into Life; and the theme of the riddles in nearly all cases turns on descriptions of oblique situations in which Life emerges phoenix-like from Death.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:5" href="#fn:5"><sup>5</sup></a>: 185–86 </p>
<h2 id="further-reading">Further reading</h2>
<ul><li>F. J. Norton, "The Prisoner Who Saved His Neck with a Riddle", <i>Folklore</i>, 52 (1942), 27-57 (a survey of this type of story)</li></ul>

<h2 id="references">References</h2>

<ol>
<li id="fn:1"><p>Craig Williamson (trans), A Feast of Creatures: Anglo-Saxon Riddle-Songs (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1982). <a href="#fnref:1" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:2"><p>'Bilbo's neck riddle', in Green Suns and Faerie: Essays on J.R.R. Tolkien, 2012, ISBN 978-1-60635-094-2. <a href="/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" target="_blank">/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)</a> <a href="#fnref:2" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:3"><p>Folklore: An Encyclopedia of Beliefs, Customs, Tales, Music, and Art, Volume 1, edited by Thomas A. Green, p. 587 <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=S7Wfhws3dFAC&pg=PA587" target="_blank">https://books.google.com/books?id=S7Wfhws3dFAC&pg=PA587</a> <a href="#fnref:3" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:4"><p>Dorst, John D. (Oct–Dec 1983). "Neck-Riddle as a Dialogue off Genres: Applying Bakhtin's Genre Theory". Journal of American Folklore. 96 (382): 413–433. JSTOR 540982. <a href="/wiki/Journal_of_American_Folklore" target="_blank">/wiki/Journal_of_American_Folklore</a> <a href="#fnref:4" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:5"><p>Abrahams, Roger D. “The Literary Study of the Riddle.” Texas Studies in Literature and Language 14 (1972): 177–97. <a href="#fnref:5" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
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Neck riddle open-in-new

Neck riddle