I didn't think this many people would know about the riddle without reading Oedipus. The answer to the riddle is a man/human. We crawl on 4 when we are young (the morning), we walk on two when we grow up (the afternoon), and we walk with a cane (three legs) when we are old (the evening). It is a riddle from a play called Oedipus the King. I asked the riddle for two reasons: Given the purpose of this forum, I wanted to see if people could correctly answer this riddle knowing nothing about Oedipus, and I wanted to see if anyone was educated in the art of theatre and ancient literature. This play is so deeply plotted I can not begin to detail it. I am very fascinated with ancient poets and playwrites because of their ability to be articulate and structure their writings with such essence. The writer of this play named Sophocles wrote a trilogy on Oedipus (although he dies in either the first one or at the beginning of the second).
I'll explain the storyline as short as I can. A man named Laius and his wife Jocasta have a child (Oedipus) who would later become the king of Thebes. One of the Gods of Thebes wants Jocasta for himself (this part im not 100% sure on). They refuse, and Apollo (the god) puts a curse on them saying that their son is going to kill Laius (his father) and marry Jocasta (his mother). In fear of this curse coming true, they drill holes in the babys feet and give it to a sheppard who is supposed to kill him. The Sheppard couldn't do it and instead gave Oedipus to the king and queen of another city who have been wanting a son. Time goes by, Oedipus grows up, and ventures back to the town of Thebes. On his way he is confronted where two roads meet, by a carraige of some sort, where Laius and some guards jump out. At this point Oedipus does not know that this is his father. They get into a fight and Oedipus kills every one of them with his bare hands (I think 5 of them?). So now the Sphinx (a monster/lion with the head of a women) enters the town of Thebes, and the only way to enter is to solve her riddle. Oedipus approaches the Sphinx and is presented the question, Apollo is the only one who knows whats going on at this point and so he tells Oedipus the answer to the riddle. Oedipus then answers it to the Sphinx; the Sphinx perishes and Oedipus is proclaimed the savior, therefore he becomes the King (in place of his father who he just killed) and marries Jocasta, his mother. Now there is a terrible curse placed on the town of Thebes, killing all the crops and new born babies. They ask Apollo how to rid the curse, and he tells them that the murderer of Laius must be brought to justice. As the new King, Oedipus vowed to cath the killer, and banish him from the city (a crime worse then death, at that time). Once it is revealed that Oedipus killed his father, Oedipus searches for his mother Jocasta, only to find that she has hung herself. Odeipus then pokes his own eyes out so he would not have to see them in the afterlife. At this point, Apollo claims that where ever Oedipus dies, that town would be blessed with riches. With this, the next King does not banish him, for reasons just stated.
This is very brief summary, there is so much more to the story then what I can type out. Some of this might be innacurate because the play was written so long ago, and has since then been altered. The significance of this story is how well scripted, plotted, and written it is, combined with the fact that it was written over 2,000 years ago. Back in ancient greece there were playwrites that wrote stories (plays) that are better then 95% of whats written today and I thought I would share a little something with this forum.
If any of this interests you, then I suggest you read the first one especially, Oedipus the King, and then maybe the next two chaptes of the story. Research some of this stuff, you might like what you find.
Biography of Sophocles
