The 150-Year-Old Riddle That’s Never Been Solved
  • Screen Shot 2014-05-07 at 6.34.03 PM

    Bishop Samuel (“Soapy Sam”) Wilberforce, who once famously debated Charles Darwin’s protege Thomas Huxley — Darwin himself had been slated to debate Wilberforce but got sick and sent Huxley in his stead — was regarded in nineteenth-century England (by his friends and enemies alike) as among the most forceful public speakers of his day.

    The writer and statesman Benjamin Disraeli coined the unforgettable “Soapy Sam” sobriquet because the Bishop’s manner was, according to Disraeli, “unctuous, oleaginous, saponaceous.” (Say what!?)

    In addition to being a brilliant orator and a master-debater, Soapy Sam was also a cunning linguist. As such, Soapy Sam was a man who enjoyed a good riddle.

    (“The unraveling of a riddle is the purest and most basic act of the human mind,” wrote Vladimir Nabokov — and I agree.)

    Soapy Sam was born in September of 1805 and died in July of 1873.

    After his death, the following riddle was found among his papers, no solution given:

    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.

    No one has ever convincingly solved this riddle — convincingly, I repeat — though “whale” and “whistle” and “echo” are the answers you’ll most commonly hear. (“Bubble” and “female orgasm” have also been surging in my SPAM lately, I don’t know why — which is to say, I don’t know what accounts for the sudden surge. Yet neither of these answers quite reconcile or square with all the riddle’s lines, do they?)

    If you want to make yourself famous, here’s your chance to shine.

    Now shine on, you crazy Neil Diamond.


About The Author

Ray Harvey

I was born and raised in the San Juan Mountains of southwestern Colorado. I've worked as a short-order cook, construction laborer, crab fisherman, janitor, bartender, pedi-cab driver, copyeditor, and more. I've written and ghostwritten several published books and articles, but no matter where I've gone or what I've done to earn my living, there's always been literature and learning at the core of my life.

87 Responses and Counting...

  • Doc 05.08.2014

    One’s phallus might satisfy, yet I can see some misses.

  • Tim

    It’s a baby

  • A siren, from greek mythology?

  • Oh, I like that.

  • A sperm

  • Sperm?

    I hope you’re not just ejaculating at the mouth when you say that.

    Thank you for coming by.

  • An opinion or idea… “I can only keep going by holding my breath” And women were seen as great gossipers back in the day. It’s not “of” nature. And when you speak an unpopular opinion “light [can be] it’s death”
    I mean, this was coming from a man who was starting to lose a battle with knowledge…

  • Rachel, my dear, I think you may have solved it.

  • I think the most sensible answer is a whale.

  • Melody

  • Jes

    I’ve heard theories it’s a whistle. The sound, not the action or object.

  • I’d not heard that. Thank you, Jes.

    And thank you for dropping by.

  • Amy

    I think he is talking about mother nature

  • Its the heart.Sweetest sound in orchestra heard but never been is a heartbeat.Bird in light plumage is the heart filling w/ all kinds of feelings, nothing on earth has ever been seen means there is nothing like it, on earth i expire is every1 dies in water i die mean the heart can be drowned in tears,Yet i run,swim,fly, is it the beat of your heart when you truly feel,If I cant b guessed by a boy or man A girl or woman I certainly can is Men think w/ there heads women think w/ their heart.So the answer is the heart!

  • Not bad, Krista! Not bad at all.

    Thank you for dropping by.

  • Its a lie.

  • It is an intriguing answer, David McDonald.

    Thank you for dropping that lie.

  • ENIGMA.

    I am loudest of voices in orchestra heard,
    And yet in an orchestra never have been;
    I’m a bird of bright plumage, and less like a bird
    Nothing in nature has ever been seen.

    Touching earth, I expire; and in water I die;
    In air I lose breath, yet can swim and can fly;
    Darkness destroys me, and light is my death,
    Yet I can’t keep alive without stopping my breath;
    If my name can’t be guessed by a boy or a man,
    By a girl or a woman it certainly can.

    The answer, as such, was provided two months later (this time signed off by “E.B.K.”), also presented in rhyme:

    ‘TIME.’

    I’m beaten, I’m counted, until deadened the sound
    Of violin, trombone,
    Flute, psaltery, and drum;
    Yet in propria personâ I am not there found.
    Some talk of my wings, brightly tinted with gold—
    For so quickly I fly,
    Bringing pleasure and joy.
    Yet I’m not a bright bird—I’m shrivelled and old:
    I carry a scythe,
    And painfully writhe.
    Man, woman, and child,
    The grave, and the wild,
    All lie pale, without motion, and cold.

    But if I thus kill, I myself suffer loss;
    When the earth’s years are o’er,
    Then shall I be no more,
    And all that is good will be cleansed from its dross.
    I’m engulfed, I am past,
    No thought on me is cast
    When each gentle breeze vibrates; when rough winds roar,
    I’m exhausted, I perish,
    And like a ghost vanish;
    Though I swim and I fly,
    Yet in these I must die,
    No pang of remorse can bring me back more.

    The earth in its daily course turns from the sun:
    Man much needeth the night;
    But, oh! sad is my plight,
    For extinction to me has certainly come.
    The daylight returns to gladden man’s heart.
    I’ve been born and have died,
    Death is still at my side,
    Though in man’s joy and pain I must bear my part.
    Time must constantly die,
    With swift wings from us fly;
    Then his forelock pray seize,
    In sloth think not there’s ease,
    Forget not that you too must depart.

    Right. So the answer given was TIME. By 1886 this answer was apparently forgotten, because a correspondent wrote to Notes & Queries in that year to ask for the answer to the riddle, which was now attributed to “Dr. Wilberforce, late Bishop of Oxford”… and it’s been treated as unsolved ever since, far as I can tell.

    Copy pasted from website

  • Wow!

    Thank you, Sarah. Your comment is eye-opening and unexpected.

  • I know it has been a while and sorry for my bad english, its not my mother tongue.

    What about ‘Hope’ as an answer?

    Hope can be triggered by a orchestra and kind of expressed by sounds.
    But still cannnot be seen. Same for the nature part, also hope doesnt seem like something rooted in nature but rather something higher than that. The gay plummage could refer to all the different shapes hope can take. When you are realistic (it touches earth) it will die, because the definition of hope is to be irrational. Everyday it looses breath in air, meaning it becomes weaker and weaker if it isnt influenced by something. In water I die, could refer to the term of drowning hope. And yet it can go over the top and fly. When its almost gone it still can swim. Darkness destroys me: true. Light is my death: hope will die after it is fullfilled. Hope cannot stay alive without just being hold on for some time, because it takes time to potentially be fullfilled. The last part could refer to the name “hope” for girls.

    Whale doesnt feel like an answer at all, due to the line “Nothing in nature has ever been seen. ”
    And Time still doesnt really add up with all lines in my opinion, but is way better than whale anyways.

  • Bad English? Robin, my dear, your English is brilliant and beautiful, and I love your reply. I mean that seriously.

    Thank you for all the work of writing down your thoughtful response.

    And thank you as well for dropping by.

  • I think the answer are “the stars” (in particular the known “constellations”). The idea came to me when i realized that the stars are the only thing both vanished through darkness AND light: darkness doesn’t let us see them, and when light comes (day time) that too makes them disappear.
    There are constellations fitting all the parts of the riddle. “I’m a bird of gay plumage” could be the Pheonix, the Swan or even Tucana (an exotic amazonian bird). “I’m the sweetest of sounds in orchestra heard” could be Lyra (the harp) which according to the legend was the instrument played by one of the sons of Zeus who used to claim sounded musically perfect. The riddle also makes several mentions to “breath”, in special “in air i lose breath”, which most likely reffers to the constellation Antlia (the air pump machine).
    The only thing i can’t understand is why should women get the riddle better than men (?)

  • Very creative answer, friend.

    Thank you for dropping by.

  • Thanks! There are many more possible answers, of course. One other solution that i never discarded, taking in consideration what i’ve researched on Wilberforce’s mindset (his creationist worldview, his typical subjects of interest, etc) is LIFE.
    We find life everywhere, from deep in the sea to up in the sky [i can swim and can fly]…
    It was believed back then, especially within creationist circles, that life existed due to an ethereal property of it called The Breath of Life, therefore it was normal to think that life could only keep going by “holding on to its breath” (the breath of life).
    Also, it’s more common for the subject of “life” to be associated to women, rather than men, since women are the bearers of life from its start (and that probably explains the last part of the riddle).
    When life “meets the earth” (burial) it’s the end of it, although life can just as well meet its end inside water. And no living creature can breathe above a certain altitude [in air i lose breath].
    I have yet to understand what the “darkness” and “light” part means, but it most likely speaks through symbolism (the experience of death was often described as a light at the end of a tunel, so maybe that’s what the riddle speaks about).

  • “Life” was the first answer I thought of, actually, when I first came across this riddle, back in 2014. And I like what you say about it.

  • Sound. Wavelengths

  • In other words. Vibration.

  • I like that, Steve. It makes me positively hum, and like that very much.

  • A harsh wind

  • I like that one very much too! I like most of all the specific way you phrase it here, Sean. I think it’s poetic and authentically so, and for this one fact alone — forget for a moment all the other beautiful things I could name — I can’t thank you enough for dropping by.

  • Me and my mom were thinking this over, and we believe it’s an unborn baby.

  • My thanks to you and your mother both, Destiny! I believe I can see a brilliant and bright and beaming future light in your wonderful reply to me here.

  • the answer is death.

  • answer death.

  • Death, where is thy sting?

  • i know

  • You know nothing!

    Except, perhaps, that if you keep saying it, maybe it will come true.

  • It’s the scream of a mother while giving birth sweetest sound of orchestra heard….it’s a bit like music to the ears of those listening that this woman is fighting to bring out her baby but you’ll definitely never hear such sound in real orchestra. No such pain exist in nature like that…..and obviously in water she will drown….even in oxygen she’s holding her breath to push she can swim in her tears and the feeling is like soaring …..darkness….closing your eyes is giving up and that is like a death and as you die you see the light …and all you have to do is keep pushing and holding your breath only a woman can know such name …the scream while giving birth….I might not be making sense but seriously what else could it be.What else do only women experience..

  • The answer is a whistle

  • its obviously a flying fish

  • its obviously a flying fish, it fits everything

  • The answer is LIFE.
    I’m going to break it down on each new line.
    “I’m the sweetest of sounds in Orchestra heard,” Life is the sweetest sound because if there was no life on earth then there would be no sound.
    “Yet in Orchestra never was seen.” Life is never seen because it is something that we are made of. The “Orchestra” is actually all the sounds of life that sounds like music.
    “I’m a bird of gay plumage, yet less like a bird,” A bird of gay plumage can be any bird made out of life and it is less like a bird because LIFE is what makes the bird, it isn’t what the bird is.
    “Nothing ever in Nature was seen.” Parmenides of Elea(Greek philosopher) wrote a poem, “ On Nature.” It is about Life.
    “Touch the earth I expire, in water I die,” When a lifeform touches Earth it expires because we all have a day of death which would be our expiration date. It dies in water because there are lifeforms that live in water that eventually die and humans can drown and die in water taking their life.
    “In air I lose breath, yet can swim and can fly;” Life loses breath in air because the pressure gets higher the higher you go in the air taking your breath. Life can swim and fly because life is found in lifeforms that fly and swim.
    “Darkness destroys me, and light is my death,” Darkness destroys life because after you die it is said that you fall in the darkness. Light is the death because when life is first made it is born in the light of the earth.
    “And I only keep going by holding my breath.” Life keeps going because lifeforms take in breaths of air and keep it inside of them by “holding in the breath.”
    “If my name can’t be guessed by a boy or a man,” A boy and man can’t get pregnant and have a lifeform inside of them.
    “By a woman or girl it certainly can.” A woman or girl can get pregnant and give birth to a new life.

  • Pretty damned good, Levi!

    Thank you for dropping by.

  • I agree with this Levi guy. It’s life. I THINK HE MIGHT HAVE ACTUALLY SOLVED IT!!!!!!!! YA TO GO!! WHAT DOES EVERYONE ELSE THINK???? I THINK HE ACTUALLY SOLVED IT!!!!

  • Vitamine A

  • “A spirit “

  • ANGEL/FISH

  • It’s a reed fish/rope fish

  • Hey! I like those answers! I like them a lot.

    Thank you for dropping by and taking the time to comment.

  • the message is dolphin because bird of prey but not a bird it hunts for fish also it says it hunts in a heard like a pod holding its breath in water and when leaping in the air and it cant walk because it doesn’t say anything about walking so the answer is simply dolphin

  • Jim

    Flying fish

  • When I hear this riddle, I think of snow, or snowflakes

  • I like that, Eric. Thank you. It has a poetic beauty which sets it apart.

    Thank you for dropping by.

  • It’s a bubble.
    The first verse relates to the sound it makes when popping. This is replicated by the conductor tapping his baton, meaning the orchestra is about to start (and they loved their music back then!)
    The second relates to the pretty colours, but bubbles are man made and don’t naturally occur.
    The third is popping when hitting the floor, a bubble can’t survive pressure IN the water and it gradually disperses and pops in the air. But, it can float on the surface of the water and float through the air, hence the swim and fly.
    Fourth verse. In darkness, it cannot be seen (it could mean that because it can’t be seen it doesn’t exist or that it’ll be popped more easily) and the light may refer to candlelight, where heat will pop it. As long as the surface remains intact and it has air in it, it can keep existing, hence the holding its breath.
    The last verse relates to the girls and women doing the washing, so they’ll be more likely to come across bubbles!

  • A careful and closely reasoned answer, Sarah, whether correct or incorrect is to me, at this point, largely irrelevant.

  • Originally, I wanted to answer Curtain, Security curtain or stage light.

    I find myself still revisiting some of those, but at this point – I think the answer is “INTERMISSION “ or “INTERVAL” as used in British and Indian English.

  • So original, Lynn, and plausible. Thank you.

    It’s a great pleasure indeed for me to read these ideas and responses, and I marvel at the thought and creativity that you and others like you have given this cryptic Soapy Smith riddle.

  • It’s a nightin gale!!!!

  • Florence nightingale, ” lady with the lamp”

  • Clever, Derek! Thank you for dropping by.

  • Shade

  • Shade.

    Shade?

    Shade!

    You cranked it out, sir. Thank you for reading and thank you for dropping by.

  • […] Thought you guys might enjoy this — an unsolved riddle from the 1800s. Story and contents of puzzle have been copy pasted from here: […]

  • TY

    The only answer is..
    Dawn

  • The only answer is … Dawn.

    May I tell you something, TY?

    You may be the rightest one yet.

  • THe answer is high pitch

  • What!? I can’t hear you, friend. I think you may be pitched a little too high.

    All the same, I thank you for — you know — dropping by.

  • “Mixed race fetus/baby mothered by a white woman” is my answer.

    Some research I did in the 1800’s it was said that it was excepted if a white man father a mixed race child in which the child was just considered a slave unless the father wanted to educate. While a white woman who gave birth to a mix child was abandoned, which would resulted in death unless saved by the church in theory.

    With him being a man of the church and a abolitionist he may have seen a lot of abandonment of these babies.

  • Wow! Thank you for that, Lester.

    And thank you for dropping by.

  • The answer is “timbre and pitch.” You are all wrong.
    “I’m the sweetest of sounds in Orchestra heard, yet in orchestra never was seen.”
    You can hear musical sounds in the Orchestra, but they can’t be seen.
    “I’m a bird of gay plumage, yet less like a bird,” refers to the color and tone quality.
    “Nothing ever in nature was seen.” Referring to the musical sounds in nature that can be heard as well, but once again cannot be seen. “Touch the earth I expire, in water I die.” The timbre of a tuning fork will die when touching the earth or water.
    “In air I lose breath, yet can swim and can fly.” Refers to the timbre and pitch that cause one to run out of breath, and the musical notes give the feeling of swimming or flying.
    “Darkness destroys me, and light is my death, and I only keep going by holding my breath.” Referring to the color and tone of timbre and the holding of breath when singing or playing wind instruments and letting your breath out slowly.
    If my name can’t be guessed by a boy or a man, by a woman or girl it certainly can. “Referring to the pitch in timbre mainly while describing women and girls singing abilities over men.

  • You, Amy Horner, win.

    Yes. Yes, I mean this.

    You have solved this riddle, and that is all there is to it.

    Your answer is not merely plausible: you’ve fully supported it, backed it up, and I am convinced.

    May I buy you a Cadillac?

  • actually a very long fart

  • baba, your answer stinks. I mean, it completely blows. It’s without any doubt the shittiest answer so far — totally deflating, and I’m in no way blowing smoke up your ass when I say that — not least because everybody knows that darkness does not destroy even the lengthiest of farts. It’s my sincere opinion that you, baba, have been hoisted by your own petard.

    Thank you for dropping by and taking the wind out of my sails, I guess.

  • Please, Mr. Zolinski. Please. I am at this point very seriously considering cutting that answer open and counting its rings — that’s how bloody old it is.

    Beside which, Amy Horner, whom I do not know, already solved this riddle — and not too long ago.

    Quoting her answer from her comment directly above:

    The answer is “timbre and pitch.” You are all wrong.
    “I’m the sweetest of sounds in Orchestra heard, yet in orchestra never was seen.”
    You can hear musical sounds in the Orchestra, but they can’t be seen.
    “I’m a bird of gay plumage, yet less like a bird,” refers to the color and tone quality.
    “Nothing ever in nature was seen.” Referring to the musical sounds in nature that can be heard as well, but once again cannot be seen. “Touch the earth I expire, in water I die.” The timbre of a tuning fork will die when touching the earth or water.
    “In air I lose breath, yet can swim and can fly.” Refers to the timbre and pitch that cause one to run out of breath, and the musical notes give the feeling of swimming or flying.
    “Darkness destroys me, and light is my death, and I only keep going by holding my breath.” Referring to the color and tone of timbre and the holding of breath when singing or playing wind instruments and letting your breath out slowly.
    If my name can’t be guessed by a boy or a man, by a woman or girl it certainly can. “Referring to the pitch in timbre mainly while describing women and girls singing abilities over men.

  • This is easy.. Is there reward fir the answer ??

  • An evergreen and, I dare say, coniferous response, Mr. Joseph Key — with or without your two question marks.

    In answer to your question(s??), yes, there is a very handsome reward fir the answer.

    I repeat: fir the answer.

    Now let us hear it, Joseph Key. Wow us with your puzzle prowess. Amaze us with your deductive acumen. Dazzle us and daze us. Hey, diddle-diddle, stupefy us with your unraveling of this rhythmic riddle.

    I know I speak for all my good readers — strike that: I know I speak fir all my good, bad, ugly, and indifferent readers when I say that we await with fir-bated breath your award-winning response.

    P.S. Thank you fir dropping by!

  • It a “Bubble” for he is soapy sam ,bubble works in all of them ,that was too easy.

  • I have a riddle I came up with ,let’s see who gets it,…..I Am the first,last,beggining and end! What Am I ???

  • I strongly disagree, Jesse James, no matter how lathered up you’ve gotten, no matter how slick and iridescent this tenuous Soapy Sam connection seems. “Bubble,” which has been posited before (here and elsewhere) isn’t bad but upon closer scrutiny — upon deeper prodding — the bubble bursts before our eyes, right at the outset:

    “I’m the sweetest of sounds in Orchestra heard”

    I do not think this is a bubble, sir. I think, however, you may be existing in a bubble.

    Jesse James wrote:

    “I have a riddle I came up with ,let’s see who gets it,…..I Am the first,last,beggining and end! What Am I ???”

    You, Jesse James, are the alpha and the omega, the mini and the mega, the Vincent and the Vega, the Juan and the Ortega.

    In short, you are a bubble.

    Now what the fuck do I win, bubble boy?

  • The female orgasm.

  • An answer as original as it is penetrating, Joan, as slick as cum on a golden tooth.

    Thank you for dropping by! Clearly you’re a formidable riddler, and cryptological sleuth.

  • The answer to the riddle is “a fire.”

    “I’m the sweetest of sounds in orchestra heard” refers to the sound of a fire crackling.

    “yet in orchestra never was seen” means that a fire is not a part of an orchestra.

    “I’m a bird of gay plumage” refers to the flames of a fire, which can look like colorful plumage.

    “yet less like a bird, nothing ever in nature was seen” means that a fire is not a natural bird.

    “Touch the earth I expire” means that a fire goes out if it touches the ground.

    “in water I die” means that a fire goes out if it is submerged in water.

    “in air I lose breath” means that a fire goes out if it does not have enough oxygen.

    “yet can swim and can fly” means that a fire can spread through water or air.

    “Darkness destroys me, and light is my death” means that a fire goes out in darkness or if it is exposed to too much light.

    “and I only keep going by holding my breath” means that a fire needs oxygen to continue burning.

    “If my name can’t be guessed by a boy or a man, by a woman or girl it certainly can” means that the answer to the riddle is something that is easy for anyone to guess.

  • I like your answer, Sterling Merritt (and your name!), as well as the reasons you provide.

    I apologize for not seeing your comment until now. WordPress used to notify me whenever a comment was left for, but no longer. This most likely has something to do with my website being attacked, blacklisted, buried, and burned by Google, Bing, Yahoo, DuckGoGo, and the United States government — including the CIA and FBI.

    Thank you for what you wrote. Thank you for dropping by.

  • I asked chat GPT to solve this: This is what it said.

    The answer to the riddle is Echo. Echo is a sound that is heard, but not seen in an Orchestra. Echo is not a bird, but it is described with gay plumage, which means it is colorful and attractive. Echo dies when it touches the earth, in water, and in air, and can only survive by holding its breath. Echo is also destroyed by darkness and light. The name Echo can be guessed by a woman or girl, but not by a boy or a man.

  • Well, friend, it’s interesting. The answer confirms what we already knew: ChatGPT is just another search-engine aggregator.

    The main reason I say this here is that the echo answer is hardly original or new — though far be it from me to argue with an artificially intelligent device or doll. Still, I must say, I emphatically do not agree with this robotic reasoning, if it can be called reasoning at all.

    Echo is described with gay plumage? When? Where? By whom? ChatGPT infers this to mean “colorful and attractive,” but I’m prepared to argue that even this is a stretch: echos are not always — or even usually — colorful and attractive. That, to me, is a dangerous stretch. As proof of this, we need look no further than a bad sound-mixer or an echoey room where jazz musicians play.

    But I think ChatGPT — which is nothing more or less than upcycled regurgitation, a newly repackaged search-engine scouring the www for more information to spit out more rapidly (and, please note: AI [so-called] cannot induct) — makes even more tremendous leaps than this:

    “Destroyed by darkness and light” are bad enough to be worthy of baba’s shitty answer above. In fact, echoes across still water at night are echoes at their most pristine and strongest.

    Most baffling of all and where I think ChatGPT is wrongest:

    “The name Echo can be guessed by a woman or girl, but not by a boy or a man”? I will admit, this made me scratch my head. It’s as unconvincing as any bad literary interpretation I’ve ever read.

    I frankly don’t know whether to laugh or cry.

    Yet I’m sincere, Mr. mcvay, when I say that it is interesting. And I thank you for dropping by.

  • sirens echo

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