Anyone know this riddle?
The Renaissance Man
Alaric has a perplexed expression on his face.
"This riddle is part of the song 'Lurker', by Genesis," he says.
"Every now and then, I think about it again and try to solve it, and I've
never yet figured it out. After 15 years, it's really starting to
frustrate me.
"Does anyone know the solution?"
He walks over to the jukebox and dials a selection.......
"Meanwhile, lurking by a stone in the mud, two eyes
looked to see what I was, and then something spoke,
and this is what it said to me:
"Clothes of brass and hair of brown,
Seldom need to breathe,
Don't need no wings to fly,
A heart of stone,
A fear of fire and water,
Who am I?"
--
Phil Stracchino Babylon Project System Administrator
ala...@babcom.com Creator, alt.support.survivors.prozac
The Renaissance Man http://www.babcom.com/jwz/alaric/
NRA, NRA-ILA, NRA-SATF, GOA, GOC, CRPA, CCRKBA, SAF, LEAA, NRAMC-SV
The Polymath
The Renaissance Man wrote:
>
> Alaric has a perplexed expression on his face.
>
> "This riddle is part of the song 'Lurker', by Genesis," he says.
>
> "Every now and then, I think about it again and try to solve it, and I've
> never yet figured it out. After 15 years, it's really starting to
> frustrate me.
>
> "Does anyone know the solution?"
>
> He walks over to the jukebox and dials a selection.......
>
> "Meanwhile, lurking by a stone in the mud, two eyes
> looked to see what I was, and then something spoke,
> and this is what it said to me:
>
> "Clothes of brass and hair of brown,
> Seldom need to breathe,
> Don't need no wings to fly,
> A heart of stone,
> A fear of fire and water,
> Who am I?"
Ok, I'll take a stab at it:
It's a burning ember.
You can bank the fire, so it doesn't get much oxygen, but keeps
burning. It's light enough that convection can carry it up the
chimney. Water will douse it, fire will burn it out. Heart
of stone -- a coal ember.
--
The Polymath (aka: Jerry Hollombe, M.A., CDP)
poly...@pacbell.net <<<===PLEASE NOTE NEW E-MAIL ADDRESS
http://www.babcom.com/polymath <<<===AND NEW HOME PAGE URL
(818) 882-6309
The Polymath
The Polymath wrote:
>
> The Renaissance Man wrote:
> > "Clothes of brass and hair of brown,
> > Seldom need to breathe,
> > Don't need no wings to fly,
> > A heart of stone,
> > A fear of fire and water,
> > Who am I?"
> It's a burning ember.
>
> You can bank the fire, so it doesn't get much oxygen, but keeps
> burning. It's light enough that convection can carry it up the
> chimney. Water will douse it, fire will burn it out. Heart
> of stone -- a coal ember.
Forgot to mention the "Clothes of brass and hair of brown."
The ember's glow and rising smoke, of course.
The Renaissance Man
Quoth poly...@pacbell.net:
] The Renaissance Man wrote:
] > "Clothes of brass and hair of brown,
] > Seldom need to breathe,
] > Don't need no wings to fly,
] > A heart of stone,
] > A fear of fire and water,
] > Who am I?"
] Ok, I'll take a stab at it:
]
] It's a burning ember.
]
] You can bank the fire, so it doesn't get much oxygen, but keeps
] burning. It's light enough that convection can carry it up the
] chimney. Water will douse it, fire will burn it out. Heart
] of stone -- a coal ember.
"Hmm," Alaric muses, "not bad. But where does the 'Clothes of brass,
hair of brown' fit in?"
The Renaissance Man
Quoth poly...@pacbell.net:
] The Polymath wrote:
] >
]
] > > "Clothes of brass and hair of brown,
] > > Seldom need to breathe,
] > > Don't need no wings to fly,
] > > A heart of stone,
] > > A fear of fire and water,
] > > Who am I?"
]
] >
] > You can bank the fire, so it doesn't get much oxygen, but keeps
] > burning. It's light enough that convection can carry it up the
] > chimney. Water will douse it, fire will burn it out. Heart
] > of stone -- a coal ember.
] Forgot to mention the "Clothes of brass and hair of brown."
] The ember's glow and rising smoke, of course.
Alaric considers this.
"I don't know," he replies at length, "but you might have something
there...."
The Renaissance Man
Quoth da...@the.satanic.org (Dante Alighieri):
] Quoth The Renaissance Man (ala...@babylon5.babcom.com):
] : "Clothes of brass and hair of brown,
] : Seldom need to breathe,
] : Don't need no wings to fly,
] : A heart of stone,
] : A fear of fire and water,
] : Who am I?"
]
] If I'm not mistaken [1], ammunition needs to "breathe" occasionally.
] No wings, but flies. Heart of either lead or gunpowder. Susceptible
] to both fire and water.
]
] I'm not familiar with the song. Does it fit?
"Well, you don't really have to be familiar with the song, that's about
all the words there are in it. I considered a bullet, but this doesn't
account for the 'hair of brown', and also ammunition doesn't need to
breathe - matter of fact, modern firearms work better in a vacuum than
they do in air. I don't know whether that's a pro or con in this
context."
Dante Alighieri
: Alaric has a perplexed expression on his face.
[snip]
: "Meanwhile, lurking by a stone in the mud, two eyes
: looked to see what I was, and then something spoke,
: and this is what it said to me:
: Seldom need to breathe,
: Don't need no wings to fly,
: A heart of stone,
: A fear of fire and water,
: Who am I?"
What comes to mind is a bullet. Brass casing, Copper-colored round.
If I'm not mistaken [1], ammunition needs to "breathe" occasionally.
No wings, but flies. Heart of either lead or gunpowder. Susceptible
to both fire and water.
I'm not familiar with the song. Does it fit?
[1] Not being a munitions expert.
: Phil Stracchino Babylon Project System Administrator
: ala...@babcom.com Creator, alt.support.survivors.prozac
: The Renaissance Man http://www.babcom.com/jwz/alaric/
: NRA, NRA-ILA, NRA-SATF, GOA, GOC, CRPA, CCRKBA, SAF, LEAA, NRAMC-SV
+------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| da...@the.satanic.org And remember kids: WORSHIP SATAN! |
+------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Madness takes its toll. Please have exact change. |
+------------------------------------------------------------------------+
Leslie
In article <4sn64b$9...@news.acun.com>, Zaphkiel <zaph...@acun.com> wrote:
>In article <4sk6gg$1...@babylon5.babcom.com>,
>ala...@babylon5.babcom.com says...
>
>>
>> "Clothes of brass and hair of brown,
>> Seldom need to breathe,
>> Don't need no wings to fly,
>> A heart of stone,
>> A fear of fire and water,
>> Who am I?"
>
Leslie chokes and laughs.
"If the answer really *is* 'a bullet,' Alaric and Polymath are going to
feel really silly...
("Does that answer fit into the context of the song, though--?")
Leslie. Them being the gun and bullet experts, and all. ;)
--
Just the FAQs--If you need info about alt.callahans, I've got the FAQs!
*** <http://www.io.org/~deirdre/> || ftp.io.org/pub/users/deirdre ***
Sometimes the light's all shining on me--other times I can barely see--
Grateful Dead * If we couldn't laugh we would all go insane. J. Buffett
The Polymath
Lady Cheron wrote:
>The Polymath wrote:
>>>The Renaissance Man wrote:
>>
>>> Seldom need to breathe,
>>> Don't need no wings to fly,
>>> A heart of stone,
>>> A fear of fire and water,
>>> Who am I?"
>>
>>>
>>>You can bank the fire, so it doesn't get much oxygen, but keeps
>>>burning. It's light enough that convection can carry it up the
>>>chimney. Water will douse it, fire will burn it out. Heart
>>>are the ember's glow and rising smoke].
>"That sounds good. But what about the 'fear of fire' line? Does
>fire fear itself?" muses Lady Cheron. "I put the question to the
>Wargamers crew last night. One of them handed me a shotgun shell.
>Brown plastic (hair of brown), brass casing at the bottom (clothes
>of brass). Doesn't need wings to fly, doesn't need to breathe.
>Heart of stone--the lead shot. Fear of fire and water--both will
>really mess up the shell. Any other answers out there?"
A good try, but shotshells come in many colors, not just brown. Not
all of them have brass bases anymore, either, but that's a technical
nit. Also, the riddle says "_seldom_ need to breathe." As your
friend noted, a shotshell doesn't need to breath at all (not even
when fired -- gunpowder includes its own oxydizer). Would a
shotshell fear fire or seek it as fulfillment of its ultimate
purpose?
I did mention that fire will cause the ember to burn out immediately
rather than glow and smolder until it's light enough to fly up the
chimney. The ember itself isn't fire but fuel for the fire, so it
isn't fearing itself.
Oh well. It's probably something else entirely. I wonder if we'll
ever come up with a definitive answer (possibly from the person
who wrote the song).
Lady Cheron
The Polymath wrote:
>
> The Polymath wrote:
> >
> > The Renaissance Man wrote:
>
> > > "Clothes of brass and hair of brown,
> > > Seldom need to breathe,
> > > Don't need no wings to fly,
> > > A heart of stone,
> > > A fear of fire and water,
> > > Who am I?"
>
> > It's a burning ember.
> >
> > You can bank the fire, so it doesn't get much oxygen, but keeps
> > burning. It's light enough that convection can carry it up the
> > chimney. Water will douse it, fire will burn it out. Heart
> > of stone -- a coal ember.
>
> The ember's glow and rising smoke, of course.
"That sounds good. But what about the 'fear of fire' line? Does
fire fear itself?" muses Lady Cheron. "I put the question to the
Wargamers crew last night. One of them handed me a shotgun shell.
Brown plastic (hair of brown), brass casing at the bottom (clothes
of brass). Doesn't need wings to fly, doesn't need to breathe.
Heart of stone--the lead shot. Fear of fire and water--both will
really mess up the shell. Any other answers out there?"
Lady Cheron (Is there a newsgroup for 'Genesis'? If so, we might
ask there.)
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Wargamers Website is up and running! Visit us at
http://adams.patriot.net/~wargamer
(NOTE: URL HAS CHANGED EFF. 7/7/96! The old URL will re-direct you
for a couple of months or so. This was the ISP's change, not mine)
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Dante Alighieri
Quoth John Edwards (hark...@ix.netcom.com):
: The Ever-So-Wise Lady Cheron <warg...@patriot.net> wrote:
: ->
: ->Lady Cheron (Is there a newsgroup for 'Genesis'? If so, we might
: ->ask there.)
:
: Oops. I just realized I don't have the original post, so I
: don't know the name of the song.
: Did anyone else keep it?
:
: John
"Lurker"
+------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| da...@the.satanic.org And remember kids: WORSHIP SATAN! |
+------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| And Jesus said unto them, "And whom do you say that I am?" |
| They replied, "You are the eschatological manifestation of the ground |
| of our being, the ontological foundation of the context of our very |
| selfhood revealed." |
| And Jesus replied, "What?" |
+------------------------------------------------------------------------+
The Renaissance Man
Quoth Lady Cheron <warg...@patriot.net>:
] The Polymath wrote:
] >
] > The Polymath wrote:
] > >
] > > The Renaissance Man wrote:
] >
] > > > "Clothes of brass and hair of brown,
] >
] > > It's a burning ember.
] > The ember's glow and rising smoke, of course.
]
] Lady Cheron (Is there a newsgroup for 'Genesis'? If so, we might
] ask there.)
"Brilliant, Holmes!", Alaric exclaims.
"A search of my newsgroups file reveals alt.music.genesis....."
--