World Dream Bank topic: RIDDLES

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RIDDLES

Dreams of questions, riddles, and conundrums... For millennia, we've asked questions of our dreams--demanded they act as oracles, or used them as data, or interpreted them to suit our theories. So it intrigues me when dreams turn the tables, and ask US a thing or two!

RELATED TOPICS: mazes - tests - oracles - ordeals and initiation rites - quests - challenges and self-defense - dream-guides - teachers and mentors - Patricia McKillip - See also the full INDEX OF SUBJECTS.

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	ALICE'S POEM: by Lewis Carroll; 1872, a poem on dreams Are dreams really so ephemeral? Lewis Carroll, who built the Alice books from dream-shards, wasn't so sure...
	THE AMBASSADOR PRO TEM OF DREAMS: by Wayan; 1993/3/1, a dream about dreams. The real Ambassador of Dreams was moonlighting, so I had to step in and explain dreams to the waking world...
	THE BOATMEN OF LAOLONG: by Viceroy Zhu, before 1679, as told by Pu Songling; an incubated dream Traders were vanishing. Newly installed Viceroy Zhu fasted, focused, and dreamt the gods sent him a riddling poem. Each line suggested one word--together, they... CAUTION: BRUTAL ORGANIZED CRIME
	THE BOOK: by SAO (Shawn Allen O'Neal); October 1989, a mandala-like dream-icon The crystalline figure on the cover of the book in my dream seemed to hold as many answers as its title...
	CAT-SCRATCH SIGNS: by Wayan; 1973/11/9, a dream on language-learning Our Star Trek team explores alien ruins covered in cat scratches. Or are they writing? I uncover Roman letters, Arabic numerals, I Ching trigrams, Chinese characters, Chumash pictographs. Reading them turns us into cats! One cat lays eggs, but two more try to smash them... CAUTION: CAT-EGG VANDALISM
	COEURL: by Wayan; 1980/2/26, a dream of surprise transcendence I'm trapped in an alien hotel, my true love has gone radioactive, and the only way out is to turn into a giant, scary... CAUTION: CLOSET LESBIAN. LITERAL CLOSET.
	THE CORE ISSUE: by Wayan; 1992/6/25, a dream from multiple viewpoints The tale of a gray heart trying to heal leads to unicorn-hostage drama in the Transamerica Pyramid... CAUTION: SEX, MAFIA THREATS, VIOLENCE
	COYOTE'S VAULT: by Wayan; 1994/5/4, a shamanic dream of the future. One of the Time Vaults has opened. That means a historical crisis is at hand. Guess who gets to go in...
	DANCE OF THE ENIGMAS: by Brian Harp; 2000, a dream of a sphinx-riddle She asked "What, plus a teaspoon of knowledge and a teaspoon of wisdom, makes three teaspoons of nothing?"
	THE ELEVEN CENT ORACLE: by Wayan; 1998/11/12, a dream on accumulating... change. I'm a migratory girl who's lost my tribe. I find eleven coins, cross the world, and pay the Oracle...
	GREEN DRAGON BANE: by Tom LogosEinTheos, 2019/5/13, a dream of an odd gift I'm in a cavern. A large green & brown dragon goes over to a machine and gives me a green egg. A gift. It comes to me this is "dragon bane"...
	HOMEBOUND: by Sunshine; 2015/3/21, a dream posing an ethical dilemma Elves are making humans grow tree-doors back to Faerie. But are they invasion-scouts, or just going home? CAUTION: GUNFIGHT, MIND CONTROL
	I'M A VESTA, NOT A MAN!: by Wayan; 1980/1/6, a dream of when it's over. I'm the animal guardian of a deep crater, but when a human girl rejects me, I set out to leave... CAUTION: ORAL SEX, UNREQUITED LOVE, SPECISM
	LEARNING SCALES: by Wayan; 1985/6/26, an epic dream of Chinese dragons. I find myself in astral China. The Empress is banished, the Jester rules. Wisdom is lost. We need an Imperial Dragon...
	MASTER OF THE HOUSE OF DUSK: by Wayan; 1994/10/10, an initiatory dream. To enter the House of Dusk, I must say what haunts the Pass. Even if I guess right, do I really understand?
	THE NESS MAN, or, HOW TO HEAL: by Wayan; 1994/4/13, a mytho-musical dream. Mythic creatures round a woodland pool want to heal a businessman. Do too many cooks spoil the soup?
	PESSIMIST HELIX: by Wayan; 1996/6/9, a wise time-travel dream. I work the info desk in a futuristic library. But one question leads me into a DNA-helix, a tornado of doubt...
	RANI: by Wayan; 1994/1/28, a dream about choice, with 8 illus. A Borges story of a were-tigress provokes a dream of a ranch crawling with weird were-women. Weird, but I LIKE them... CAUTION: NUDE CREATURES
	REFLECTIONS IN THE POOL: by Wayan; 184K total, 2 panoramas; a 1994/7/2 dream. Night. A mirror-maze of contradictory preachings. But in the secret mermaid pool, I find love. Then... sphinx-angels war in the air! A war of riddles. Can I, a batwinged devil, make peace? CAUTION: SEX, NUDITY, MEAN ANGELS, AND ONE HAPPY DEVIL
	RIDDLE ON HER BREAST: by Wayan; dreamed 2021/3/1; a dream using sex to hide a pun I'm told a girl in an armored nutrient-bath wheechair has my shoes. I need them back. But to get them I have to answer the riddle written on her breasts. We both get a bit distracted... CAUTION: CARTOON BREASTS
	SAINT BRIDGET: by Jenny Badger Sultan; between 1963-68, a dream on adversity's uses. In a Scythian church, a painting says: "Little St Bridget was bound so hard that when they released her she flew"...
	SEA OF TIME: by Wayan; 1989/7/26. Digital sketch of astral dream. I dreamed I was drowning in the Sea of Time, where dragons asked me questions. Painful questions...
	SOCK PUPPETS OF THE GODS: by Dee and Wayan; 1994/4/14. Parallel shamanic dreams! I dream I'm suicidal; but I'm saved when I'm shown the flow of human development--the same pattern, from souls to civilizations! Eddies and knots recur, but the challenges slowly get more spiritual. NEXT DAY: I learn what my shaman-friend Dee just dreamed. And now I'm unsure whose dream this is... CAUTION: IDEAS
	SOLOMON'S CHOICE: by King Solomon, c. 970 BCE; a god's dream-bargain As his reign begins, King Solomon worries he's inadequate. He dreams God offers him one gift, of his choice--but what would help the most?
	SPHINX'S WOOD: by Wayan; 1981/11/19, a dream of puns, riddles and advice After my dad lets me down I dream black may be white, and white, black--if you're a Sphinx...
	SPOON CHALLENGE: by Emily Joy; 2006/8/30, a mathemagical dreamlet. I want to drink the elixir, but negative 20 spoons block me! Can I remove them? With warped teacup logic & reciprocals…
	THE SWORDSMEN: by T.A. Williams; late 1930s, a surreal dream. Dusk. A plain. A troop of swordsmen approach me, draw their weapons... and toss their spinning, shining swords to the stars..
	TARDIS GAZEBO: by Wayan; 1993/2/17, a 3-page digital dream-comic Solve a pictographic riddle and you can fly, shapeshift, work magic! But someone doesn't want us solving dream-riddles...
	TAROT: THE SPHINX (the High Priestess): by Wayan; Tarot card, 3x5", summer 1978. The card of intuition, dreams--and asking. She knows all the secrets. And might just tell you, if...
	TIMEDOORS OF THE GODS: by Wayan; 1998/2/17, a mysterious initiatory dream. I'm mortal, yet I'm offered a residency in the Commune of the Gods, along with Xena the Amazon Warrior and... Little Red Riding Hood?
	THE WORLD'S FAIR: by Wayan; 1983/3/18, an illustrated dream fable. The same night I learn of the Kerouac Tree, a wise old man shows me the world's fair. Not the event...