Yesterday’s trivia question was one of the riddles from the repartee between Bilbo and Gollum in “The Hobbit”: “Thirty white horses on a red hill, first they champ, then they stamp, then they stand still.” The answer is “teeth” although several people guessed “chestnuts,” which was very confusing to me until I was reminded of the exact phrasing. Bilbo poses the riddle to Gollum:
[The riddle] was rather an old one, too, and Gollum knew the answer as well as you do.“Chestnuts, chestnuts,” he hissed. “Teeth! teeth! my preciousss; but we has only six!”
“Chestnuts” is not the answer; a “chestnut” is an old, oft-told anecdote or tale or joke as in, “That’s an old chestnut. I’ve heard it a thousand times.” Gollum was calling the riddle an old chestnut.
Anyway, today’s question is again from “The Hobbit”: “What did Bilbo say that was roughly akin to ‘out of the frying pan and into the fire’?” Answer tomorrow.
