The Riddle

Freedom, Arrow, and Floaty

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Once upon a time, there lived three triplet brothers, Floaty, Arrow, and Freedom. The three brothers were in their teenage years. They were somewhat mature for their age. However, they were still naive to the true ways of the world. From a very early age, the brothers' mother Po tried to teach them the dangers that pigs can face. She explained to them how she lost her husband, their father, to a terrible wolf. This wolf was notorious around the pig community. A couple times a year, the wolf would prey on the pigs, killing them and making a delicious meal from their remains. However, he justified this act by giving the pigs an opportunity to save their life. The wolf would give the pigs a riddle to solve. They would only receive three attempts to answer the riddle correctly or they would become his meal. The name of the wolf was Riddler.

One day the three brothers were asked by their mother to go visit their Grandma Ruth. They all agreed to go and prepared for their journey.

"Now remember, kids, be careful out there. Be on the lookout for the Riddler. He tends to come out this time of year. Do not cut through the woods and stay on the main roads to get to Grandma's."

"Yes, Mother. We will stay on the path," they replied in unison.

As they made their way out the door, Po kissed Floaty, Arrow, and Freedom and saw them off on their journey.

The three brothers traveled for forty-five minutes down the path towards Grandma's house. As they stopped for a break, they realized they still had two more hours of travel left at the rate they were traveling.

"Freedom, Arrow, we still have two hours of hiking left before we can reach Grandma Ruth's house. This is taking forever! Let's take the shortcut."

"We understand that, Floaty, but Mom was clear with her instructions. We do not take shortcuts," Freedom and Arrow said in unison.

"Y'all are just afraid. We are young and wise. If we were to encounter any danger such as the Riddler, we would be able to reason our way out of it. We would arrive much faster if we just cut through the woods; we could cut an hour and a half off of our journey."

"No, Floaty. Arrow and I agree that we will stay on the path until we reach Grandma's."

The brothers packed up their things and continued on their journey. However, unfortunately, as they were making their way, Arrow, being his clumsy self, fell and knocked himself out.

"Freedom, we cannot continue on the path to reach Grandma's and carry our brother! We still have an hour left of travel."

"Fine, Floaty, you win. We will cut through the woods, but you will carry Arrow."

The two brothers began to cut through the woods. After fifteen minutes of traveling, they reached a bridge. They could see the outline of their grandma's house. They were ecstatic. However, just before they crossed, the Riddler climbed upon the bridge preventing them from passing. The very sight of the Riddler scared Freedom and Floaty so much they released a loud high-pitched scream! The scream was so loud, it woke Arrow!

"If you want to pass, you must answer my riddle. I will give you three attempts each, pigs!"

After calming themselves, the three pigs concluded that they could outwit the Riddler. They each took their turn at the wolf's riddle. Arrow and Floaty were not fortunate though. They attempted the wolf's riddle and failed to answer it correctly. The Riddler devoured them on the spot. Freedom was the last to go. He was distraught from losing his brothers. However, he was determined to live.

"Okay, Riddler. What do you have for me?"

"Oh, I am positive you will not answer this right! What letter of the alphabet has the most water?"

"C."

Riddler was dumbfounded. The pig was right! Never had a situation like this happened before.

"Well, I am a wolf of my word, pig. You may pass!"

Freedom made his way across the bridge. As he crossed, he seized an opportunity to avenge his lost brothers and pushed the wolf over the bridge. The Riddler fell to his death. Freedom finally arrived at his grandmother's house. He was sad because he had lost his brothers. However, he was proud that he rid the community of the terrible Riddler.

The Riddler's body lay lifeless under the bridge. However, there was movement around his stomach...

Author's Note: For my story, I did a spin-off from the Riddles by The Lake by Donald A. Mackenzie. In my story, I completely changed all the characters to pigs and a wolf. They had to travel to Grandma's house similar to the Red Riding Hood story. In the original story, a Yaksha, which is a celestial being, lives in a river. After a long hunt, the Pandava brethren are tired and thirsty. Therefore, they stop at this river which begins to talk to them saying "Answer the question that I present to you before you take a drink from this river." However, Nakula, Sahadeva, Bhima, and Arjuna overtaken by thirst do not heed the voice in the river. They take a drink from the water before answering any riddles and they die.

Yudhishthira, the wiser of the brethren, was able to control his temptations and listened to the voice in the river. He asked, "Who are you?" The voice in the river begins to tell him that he is a Yaksha and his people died from not heeding his counsel. Yudhishthira then listens to the Yaksha and answers all the riddles that the Yaksha had for him. At the end of all the riddles, the Yaksha reveals himself in the form of Dharma, the god of wisdom and justice. Because Yudhishthira was able to answer the riddle, his companions' lives were restored. Though my story does not say Arrow and Floaty were brought back, it does hint that they are still alive.