THE WOODPECKERS 



FOREWORD: THE RIDDLERS 



Long ago in Greece, the legend runs, a terri- 

 ble monster called the Sphinx used to waylay 

 travelers to ask them riddles : whoever could not 

 answer these she killed, but the man who did 

 answer them killed her and made an end of her 

 riddling. 



To-day there is no Sphinx to fear, yet the 

 world is full of unguessed riddles. No thought- 

 ful man can go far afield but some bird or 

 flower or stone bars his way with a question 

 demanding an answer ; and though many men 

 have been diligently spelling out the answers 

 for many years, and we for the most part must 

 study the answers they have proved, and must 

 reply in their words, yet those shrewd old rid- 

 dlers, the birds and flowers and bees, are always 

 ready for a new victim, putting their heads to- 

 gether over some new enigma to bar the road 

 to knowledge till that, too, shall be answered; 



