What do a raven and a desk have in common? Lewis Carroll’s answer (in Alice in Wonderland) to “why is a raven is like a writing desk” was “Because it can produce a few notes, though they are very flat”.
“Why is a raven like a writing desk?” is a riddle proposed by the Mad Hatter during a tea party in Lewis Carroll’s classic 1865 novel, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Alice was unable to answer the riddle because there was no answer. The Mad Hatter admitted as much.
When Alice said she couldn’t answer it the Mad Hatter finally admitted the riddle has no solution. He said, “I haven’t the slightest idea!”
Alice sighed at the Mad Hatter’s response and said, “I think you might do something better with the time, than waste it in asking riddles that have no answers.”
The Mad Hatter replied, “If you knew Time as well as I do, you wouldn’t talk about wasting it. It’s him.”
The riddle became one of the world’s most famous riddles. Carroll did not intend for there to be an answer but her later offered an answer to the riddle in an updated version of the book.
