wu :: forums - Print Page


    
      
        wu :: forums
        (http://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~wwu/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi)
      

        riddles >> what am i >> Medieval riddle
        
(Message started by: DeMark on Dec 3^rd, 2003, 12:33pm)

Title: Medieval riddle
Post by DeMark on Dec 3^rd, 2003, 12:33pm

A nail has the iron.
The iron has a horse,
the horse has a castle.
The castle has the land.

Sorry if I used articles "a" and "the" wrong, but I had to translate the riddle from Croatian, and it was confusing.
I don't know an answer to this riddle. Help!

Iron (Fe)

Title: Re: Medieval riddle
Post by Icarus on Dec 3^rd, 2003, 3:32pm

There is a proverb in English which goes:

For want of a nail, the shoe was lost.
For want of a shoe, the horse was lost.
For want of a horse, the battle was lost.
For want of a battle, the castle was lost.
For want of a castle, the land was lost.

In this case, "shoe" means "horseshoe". The point of the proverb is that you should pay attention to details, because they have a way of snowballing in to major problems.

It sounds like this riddle of yours is along the same lines.