In the oldest version (A*) the devil threatens to carry off a maiden if she cannot answer certain riddles. She solves them all, and (at the end) calls the devil by his right name, thus no doubt putting him to flight. The "good ending" of A (sts. 19-23) is a modern perversion.
Riddles play an important part in popular story, and that from very remote times. No one needs to be reminded of Samson, (Edipus, Apollonius of Tyre. Riddle tales, which, if not so old as the oldest of these, may be carried in all likelihood some centuries beyond our era, still live in Asiatic and European tradition, and have their representatives in popular ballads. The largest class of these tales is that in which one party has to guess another's riddles, or two rivals compete in giving or guessing, under penalty in either instance of forfeiting life or some other heavy wager (see No. 45). In a second class, a suitor can win a lady's hand only by guessing riddles (see No. 46); there is sometimes a penalty of loss of life for the unsuccessful. Thirdly, there is The Tale of the Clever Lass, who wins a husband, and sometimes a crown, by guessing riddles, solving difficult but practicable problems, or matching and evading impossibilities (see No. 2).
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