This Riddle From The 1800s Has Still Never Been Solved

A riddle that was first devised in the 19th century has recently resurfaced - and has got people scratching their heads all over again… 

Devised by Church of England Bishop Samuel ‘Soapy Sam’ Wilberforce, the brainteaser was discovered among some of his literary papers after he’d died with no trace of the answer ever being found!

Considered to be one of the greatest orators of his era - he debated Charles Darwin himself on the subject of evolution in 1860 - Soapy Sam' held the post of Bishop of Oxford from 1845 to 1869 when he was made Bishop of Winchester. 

Famed for his public speaking, as well as being an outspoken anti-slavery campaigner, it’s thought that his nickname derived from a hand gesture that he would make while talking that looked as if he was washing his hands.

You can see it captured in a popular cartoon from the time here:

But enough about Soapy Sam, let’s get back to the riddle… 

Devised some time before 1873, in the 148 years since, nobody has figured it out… Reckon you could be the first?

Here it is:

“I'm the sweetest of sounds in orchestra heard, yet in orchestra never was seen.

"I'm a bird of gay plumage, yet less like a bird, nothing ever in nature was seen.

"Touch the earth I expire, in water I die, in air I lose breath, yet can swim and can fly.

"Darkness destroys me, and light is my death, and I only keep going by holding my breath.

"If my name can't be guessed by a boy or a man, by a woman or girl it certainly can.”

On the Reddit thread where it’s resurfaced, a few people have had their say on what the answer could be.

One suggestion is that it could be a shuttlecock, but it really doesn’t tick many of the boxes does it? Someone else suggested it could be a musical note, but again I’m not really feeling that…

It could refer to a whale, as one Redditor suggested as it makes a sweet sound, swims, and can't survive outside of the water, yet requires oxygen to breathe.

It’s not bad but doesn’t really tally with the “If my name can't be guessed by a boy or a man, by a woman or girl it certainly can,” clue and also whales can’t fly can they?

The obvious kicker in this is that we’ll never know for sure what the correct answer is! Although having learned a little bit about it’s author maybe that was his game all along, and he’s having a good old laugh from beyond the grave…