The Codex · riddles · 42 entries
Gwa m, gwa m, gwa m — the call, the response, and the logic that binds them. A living genre the scholarship calls endangered; this shelf is part of keeping it otherwise.
Gwa m, gwa m, gwa m…
“Tell me dum, tell me yom”
ike nkwu na igu nkwu
(the head of the palm fruit and the palm fronds) — Onomatopoeic/tone riddle: the nonsense sounds imitate the answer's tonal contour
Gwa m, gwa m, gwa m…
“kpararam on top of the tree but yokom (silent) on the ground”
akwukwo kporo nku
(a dry leaf) — Rustles aloft, silent once fallen
Gwa m, gwa m, gwa m…
“tighalaghati”
i tigha aki n'ogwe
(cracking palm kernel on a stone) — Sound-imitation of kernel-cracking
Gwa m, gwa m, gwa m…
“Whose mother goes to market... whose mother is a thief?”
(trap; do not answer "my mother")
Song/trap riddle testing alertness against habit
Gwa m, gwa m, gwa m…
“the maiden who matures, marries, and dies within one year”
oka
(maize) — Maize completes its whole life cycle in a single season
Gwa m, gwa m, gwa m…
“the thing that clapped and vanished into the forest”
ugbakala / ụkpaka
(oil-bean pod) — The ripe pod bursts with a clap, flinging its seeds into the bush
Gwa m, gwa m, gwa m…
“the food which, when eaten, is not shared with a child”
anwuru
(snuff) — Snuff is exclusively for adults/elders
Gwa m, gwa m, gwa m…
“the thing that challenges a child to wrestle in front of its mother”
apiti / apitiri
(mud) — Slippery mud makes a child fall as if wrestling
Gwa m, gwa m, gwa m…
“two people walking; the rain beats one but not the other”
nwanyi di ime
(a pregnant woman) — She is "two people," yet the rain beats only the mother, not the unborn child
Gwa m, gwa m, gwa m…
“that which climbs up bearing water”
aki oyibo / akibekiri
(coconut) — It hangs high yet is full of water
Gwa m, gwa m, gwa m…
“the bush umbrella”
ero
(mushroom) — Its cap shelters like an umbrella
Gwa m, gwa m, gwa m…
“the beautiful damsel who became a casualty of war”
udara diri na nshi
(a star-apple fallen into faeces) — Something lovely spoiled by circumstance
Gwa m, gwa m, gwa m…
“a man must ferry a goat, a leopard, and a yam across a river without the goat eating the yam or the leopard eating the goat”
the river-crossing sequence
Cross goat first; return; take yam; bring goat back; take leopard; return for goat
Gwa m, gwa m, gwa m…
“the fowl laid the egg, and a fowl hatched from the egg: which came first?”
the fowl (per the article)
Classic chicken-or-egg dilemma
Gwa m, gwa m, gwa m…
“who, knowing how ugly he is, moves about at night”
Ụ́sụ́
(bat) — Hides its ugliness by flying only at night
Gwa m, gwa m, gwa m…
“the meat placed in the mouth but never eaten”
Ìré
(the tongue) — Always in the mouth, never consumed
Gwa m, gwa m, gwa m…
“the child who went naked to the farm and came back clothed”
Ọ́kà
(maize/corn) — The cob grows its husk-clothing in the field
Gwa m, gwa m, gwa m…
“who arrives in the world beautiful but leaves ugly”
Mmádụ́
(a human being) — Youth's beauty fades with age
Gwa m, gwa m, gwa m…
“what has flesh but no bones”
Jí
(yam) — A fleshy, boneless tuber
Gwa m, gwa m, gwa m…
“what eats the kola you broke before you do”
m̀bọ́ áká
(your fingers/nails) — The fingers touch the kola first
Gwa m, gwa m, gwa m…
“what made the king lick ashes”
Ube
(native pear) — Roasted in ashes; one licks ash-covered fingers
Gwa m, gwa m, gwa m…
“the single piece of yam that feeds the whole world”
Ọnwa
(the moon) — One "slice" lights everyone
Gwa m, gwa m, gwa m…
“what on your mother's roof accuses/points at you”
Ngwere
(lizard) — It nods from the wall/roof
Gwa m, gwa m, gwa m…
“the beautiful child that cannot be carried on the body”
Ọkụ
(fire) — Attractive but cannot be embraced
Gwa m, gwa m, gwa m…
“what is yours but others use more than you”
Aha gị
(your name) — Others call your name more than you do
Gwa m, gwa m, gwa m…
“the fence God built”
Eze
(teeth) — The natural fence in the mouth
Gwa m, gwa m, gwa m…
“what drinks alongside the king”
Ijiji
(housefly) — The fly shares even a king's cup
Gwa m, gwa m, gwa m…
“what travels carrying its own house”
Mbe
(tortoise) — Carries its shell-home
Gwa m, gwa m, gwa m…
“what eats before the mouth eats”
Anya
(the eyes) — We "eat" food with our eyes first
Gwa m, gwa m, gwa m…
“the woman with big breasts”
Oji
(kola nut) — The lobed kola suggests the image
Gwa m, gwa m, gwa m…
“the rope stretching from sky to earth”
Mmiri ozuzo
(falling rain) — Rain links heaven and earth
Gwa m, gwa m, gwa m…
“the maiden with four breasts”
Ikwe / Odo
(the wooden mortar) — Its four-lobed shape suggests the image
Gwa m, gwa m, gwa m…
“the ring God puts on that never comes off”
Akaraaka
(destiny; the lines of the palm) — Destiny is fixed
Gwa m, gwa m, gwa m…
“the bird that flies all over the world without wings”
Uche
(the mind/thought) — Thought travels everywhere instantly
Gwa m, gwa m, gwa m…
“what walks on four legs in the morning, two at noon, three at night”
Mmadụ
(a human being) — The life-cycle (crawling infant, walking adult, cane-using elder); Igbo analogue of the Sphinx riddle
Gwa m, gwa m, gwa m…
“what has four legs but cannot walk”
Oche
(a chair/stool)
Gwa m, gwa m, gwa m…
“what enters the bush empty-handed and returns with children”
Ede
(cocoyam) — One tuber multiplies into many
Gwa m, gwa m, gwa m…
“the child that goes with you into the bush but doesn't come back with you”
Nsi
(faeces) — Left behind in the bush
Gwa m, gwa m, gwa m…
“who beats a child in front of its mother”
Aguu
(hunger) — Hunger torments the child openly and the mother cannot stop it
Gwa m, gwa m, gwa m…
“whom the whole world fears... who wakes you when sleep is sweetest”
Onwu
(death) — Death fears no one, spares no rank, and comes uninvited
Gwa m, gwa m, gwa m…
“what climbs up empty-handed and comes down with water”
Aki oyibo
(coconut) — Empty-looking husk, water inside
Gwa m, gwa m, gwa m…
“the bushmeat with only one leg”
Ero
(mushroom) — It stands on a single stalk
