why is a raven....

... like a writing desk?

I have been a Alice in Wonderland fan for many years, and every now and then I think about the Mad Hatter's question "why is a raven like a writing desk" there is no answer... the riddle itself is in the fact that there is no answer... just part of the topsy turvey mind of Lewis Carrol. But it got me thinkin.... is there an answer? so off to my friend google I go...




This riddle is famous, although it's the rarefied kind of fame that entails most people never having heard of it. Lewis was bombarded with letters asking the answer but there was none, finally giving in to peer pressure he did submit an answer.... 'Because it can produce a few notes, tho they are very flat; and it is never put with the wrong end in front!' This, however, is merely an afterthought; the Riddle, as originally invented, had no answer at all.

and so the legend lives on in every new Alice in wonderland story, just as it was.... an unanswered "mad" question :-)