Basic Level - Lesson 7

"Oedipus, leper king, back before his infamous reign as ruler of Thebes, is the only human being credited with answering a Sphinx' riddle correctly. The sphinx was threatening to destroy Oedipus, but once Oedipus answered the riddle correctly it either devoured itself, or threw itself on a rock. Accounts vary.
"The riddle was asked as thus: 'Which creature in the morning goes on four legs, at mid-day on two, and in the evening upon three, and the more legs it has, the weaker it be?' The answer is 'A Man' for at birth, he must crawl on all four appendages, indicated by the morning in the sphinx' riddle. 'Mid-day' refers to the ages between toddler to elder ages, when a man walks on two feet. By 'Night,' the Sphinx indicates the end of life, the stage when some men walk with a cane. The more legs the person has, therefore, the weaker they are. In some accounts, the Sphinx asks a second riddle, 'There are two sisters: one gives birth to the other and she, in turn, gives birth to the first.' The answer is 'Night and Day,' as the Greeks referred to Night and Day, as feminine pronouns in their language."

James smirked wryly. Derek was right to answer in the most comprehensive manner possible. That was the duty of a student upon being questioned.

''Oedipus... you are correct Wake. Ten points for your house. What a brilliant man... but he ended up poking his own eyes out because he found out he slept, would you believe it, with his own mother. Those Greeks were truly strange. Now, I have a managed to obtain, illegally of course, a sphinx, a real live sphinx. Your task will consist of answering a riddle the sphinx presents to you. If you fail to answer it... you will get eaten by the sphinx, I am sorry. But do you know which riddle I had to solve to get her to come here?'', he asked, opening a box.

A cat exited, a cat that is extremely gracious. But, the cat had wings and it looked more like a leopard than an ordinary cat. It was not exceptionally big, but still big enough to take the majority of the space on Wilson's desk, where it sat. But, instead if an animal head, it had the head of a beautiful woman.

''Children, meet the sphinx. These are extremely rare and dangerous creature and I would advise you to avoid them.'', Wilson added. The sphinx looked around and smiled. ''Now, you will receive your riddles. Remember... if you fail to solve them, you get killed, sorry.'', he said.

ANDREW DIAMOND'S RIDDLE: What can be measured, but has no length, width or height?
DEREK DELACOUR'S RIDDLE: What do you break by saying just one word?
JAMES WAKE'S RIDDLE: What question can you never answer "yes" to?
ABBEY DAWN'S RIDDLE: What flies when it's on and floats when it's off?

(You have limited time to answer all of these and on your grade will depend on your answers)

Andrew thought for a moment before answering. It was an interesting puzzle, and he liked puzzles. He had to reason it out in his mind He thought of a few possibilities, but there was only one that made sense to him. He raised his hand, "Please--is the answer to my riddle 'time'?" Andrew was actually far more interested in the cat herself than the riddle. He liked animals, and he really was hoping he'd get the chance to do more than just answer her questions--before he was fried.

How dissappointing, James thought to himself. How could a legendary sphinx give a riddle with innumerable answers? James composed the three most likely answers the Sphinx had in mind. The answers concerning death, lies and opposites all persisted as the most likely outcomes. "I apologize Ms. Sphinx, but your riddle does not have one single answer, thereby eliminating the purpose of the riddle. If a riddle has more than one answer, one cannot hope to determine the correct answer. If the answer to riddle was 'What is the opposite of "yes?"' I would be correct. But if I answer 'Are you dead?' I am still as correct as my first response. And if I were to claim that the question 'Is everything you say a lie?' I would still be correct. I am afraid therefore, that this riddle is far to complex to answer with one such question." James felt satisfied with this response, but still clutched his wand, his eyes tweaking slightly to keep a good pair of eyes on the potential hunter.

Wilson smiled at their answers. ''You do seem to tempt the creature, but the two of you were close, which means that she won't attack you... yet. Now, for some help. Twist, boy, time has length... it does not have width or height, but it does have that unconventional length. So, think about it a little more. Now, Wake, Socrates, let me prove your philosophical answer wrong. Although you may think it otherwise, only one answer exist. Your first theory was pretty ingenious, but wrong and silly. You are not supposed to state the word 'yes' or 'no', but state the question you have to answer positively or negatively to. Which makes your theory wrong. Now, for your second theory. That question, are you dead, you cannot answer in any way. Why? Because you are either dead and cannot answer at all, or you are alive which makes the question pretty useless. Do you think that the sphinx is so stupid? It never asks useless questions. But, your second theory is better than your first one. And your third theory is lovely... but wrong. If you answer to that question with yes, which you can, you will get the famous 'Everybody lies' paradox, which presents before you the dilemma or your companions sincerity. If he is telling the truth, then everybody does not lie, but if he is not telling the truth, then the paradox itself is a lie. So, you see how many problems you have caused with only three of your theories. Now, think about the correct answer a little. And yes... there is only ONE correct answer to all these riddles.'', he raplied.

"Proffessor, allow to rephrase in understandable terminology: This is a trick question, as the riddle never states whether the answer 'Yes' is honest or a lie. By your reasoning, the only answer remaining to this riddle would be 'Are you asleep?'" James was a bit disgruntled by Wilson's logic. The logic behind his current answer and the logic behind "Are you dead?" were quite similar.

''The riddle is never a lie... or at least not here. You are far too young to face serious riddles. But, yes, you have correctly interpreted my reasoning and... made the correct answer. You can truly never answer yes to the question 'Are you asleep?'. Why? If you answer yes, you are awake. The logic between that answer and the answer to the question relating to death is similar, but the death question would be pretty useless, which makes the sleeping question the only one logical enough. Bravo Wake, 50 points for Ravenclaw. You are safe from the the sphinx's attack.'', Wilson said with a smile.

"Thank you professor," James responded, bowing stiffly to the regal cat. "And I fare thee well, fair Sphinx. It has been a while since I have had a test such as the one you presented. A pleasure indeed." James collected his bag and unceremoniously slung it over his shoulder and leaving the room.

"All those fairytailes about the Sphinxs and all are intresting, but then again it's just a stupid myth. How does that qualify as a Dark Art professor?" Derek asked confused raising his hand so Professor couldn't say he didn't raise it just spoke up like in a broken army.

''How does that qualify, Delacour? It qualifies under the category: 10 points from Ravenclaw, at least 5 paragraphs about the legend of Oedipus for homework, and yes, you will get a T unless you deliver it till Sunday, and under this.'', he said, giving the sphinx a gesture.

The sphinx smiled. It could hardly wait. It flapped its wings and sharpened its claws and went straight at Derek. It would not kill him, but a bloody wound was definitely the goal.

(NOTE: The assault was approved by admins)