Asian Wordplay
Stretch your imagination as you try some of these riddles, sound words, and images used by Asian tellers and listeners.
Riddles
Japanese
- A white horse with no bones.
- Hair is white when young, turns black when old.
- A one-eyed goblin with one leg.
Indian
- The red lotus in a black pond
- A tiny puppet with a long tail
- One hundred rupees in a red case.
Filipino
- As you cut, it is tough; As you open, it is the moon.
- Planted in the afternoon, harvested at dawn.
- Ever since childhood, he has clung to his father.
Chinese
- A wise builder makes a white house without bricks that turns into cloth.
- Two white walls and between them a yellow beauty.
- Two pieces of bamboo drive white ducks through a narrow door.
Sound Words
Tamil
mada mada — flowing water
pala pala — shining
gulu gulu — wind blowing
taga taga — burning
tada tada — running
vill vill — baby crying
kala kala — laughing
Malay
yi yi ya ya — learning to talk;
petpot petpot — talkative
kecepang kecepung — in a hurry
gelup gelup — drinking
gedeboom — heavy object falling
kesep kesep — walking through long grass
Chinese
gukua gukua — frogs croaking
kepong kepong — frogs jumping
pong pong — hopping
hu hu — wind blowing
gi li gu lu — falling
di da di da — clock ticking
Japanese
doki doki — heart beating
pera pera — gossiping
pacha pacha — splashing
chibi chibi — little by little
choko choko — to trot or toddle
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Images
Asian tellers use images from their world so that we can almost see the Indian beauty with shoulders like bent bamboo, skin like sandalwood, a coral mouth, lightning waist, deerlike eyes. We can admire the Korean lady with a blush like pomogranate, silkworm shaped eyebrows, butterfly brows, and a nature as sweet as the melon, or the Chinese beauty with eyebrows curved like the willowtree leaf, a mouth as small as a fish’s, eyes like lichees, meteors, or almonds, teeth like pomegranate seeds. Here are a few more Asian images to savor..
Cambodian
a roar in all directions— king’s glory
an axe from heaven— king’s order
a flawless crown made from a garland of jasmine flowers— king’s
reign
Indian
strutting like peacocks or trembling like a water lily
stings like a scorpion’s bite
waves like angry white horses
Korean
as lonely as a solitary wild goose
as light as the wing of a dragonfly
as soft as bean curd or as wrinkled as a dried pumpkin
Hmong of Laos
as pretty as a dragon’s daughter
as small as a dog’s flea
as black as the fireplace
- tofu, writing brush, needle
- oil lamp, needle, chili pepper
- coconut, stars, bananna
- silkworm & silk, egg, eating rice with chopsticks