Riddling in Middle-Earth
- Deer antler comb
There are two more riddles in this chapter that concern teeth, in a way. One of them is Gollum’s wind riddle.
Voiceless it cries,
Wingless flutters,
Toothless bites,
Mouthless mutters.
Wind biting is a similar metaphor to time biting, as each results in the erosion or deterioration of certain objects, both animate and inanimate. What is most interesting about this riddle is not the one mention of teeth, however, but Bilbo’s response to it. The narrator explains Bilbo “had once heard something rather like this before.”
This is supported after Bilbo’s riddle about the sun and daisies, which takes Gollum a good moment to solve. He is described as having to search his memory, rather than think logically. This implies that the riddles Bilbo and Gollum are posing to each other are not original riddles, but riddles from a bigger tradition. This is then confirmed when the narrator described the riddles as “ordinary above ground everyday sort of riddles,” clearly indicating that there is a riddle tradition present in Middle-Earth.