An enigma is a riddle for a scavenger hunt. One such scavenger hunt using enigmata was organized by anonymous denizens of Baghdad in the 860s, with the riddles written on slips of paper scattered across the city and its environs. Each enigma was a clue corresponding to a treasure, some of which were talismans. While operating in Baghdad, the Hidden One Basim Ibn Ishaq happened to find and solve twelve enigmata.[1]
Enigmas[]
Think yourself an intellect?
Then try to find my hoard.
Turn east from where the learned observe
The Ram, the Scales, the Gourd.
Seek out the isle where waters split
And once you've dared to ford
Its banks
You'll find
That at my flanks
Wheels churn, therein is stored
What once stood proud
Now felled and cowed
That scriveners might record.
Look within
My walls and win
An intellect's reward.
The guards are closing in, and I must write this quickly. I have obtained what I was seeking just as I said I would but I have run out of time! Avenge me and find what I risked my life for! Search the soap boilers ... and from the heights, look for the colorful fabrics! Remember me for my courage and not my fate and I bid you good luck!
If you should read this, know that I waited, in my hand a token of past glories, my pledge to set aside the trappings of war for children's toys and laughter.
You never came.
I cast my gift into the river, saw it borne towards the bridge where we first courted, near the gate famed for its markets.
May it sail on towards the setting sun, far beyond my view,
Bearing with it every hope I had of us - of me and you.
Oh, sweet-singing poetess!
I have left you a gift, a token of my eternal gratitude, and while it is merely a trifle, I would be inconsolable if it did not find your hands!
So use your prodigious creativity to solve this mystery:
Go to where men speak the opposite of poetry.
While your verses set people free, their sentences imprison.
In the west of the square, find the fountain to find my tribute to you...
Merchants staying in the village northwest of Jarjaraya have refused to pay their taxes. Recompense is required with additional interest accrued. Find their storehouse and balance the accounts sufficiently. Report back when you are done. Use all means necessary.
Asif,
Ali will call this betrayal, but a cause that once shone bright with promise is rusted with your blood. I drop my rebel blade and leave what's left of my life north of the oasis in the village of my birth. My old home sinks beneath the waves, they lap even at its dome. Perhaps when it's submerged I'll feel cleansed, bathed at last in something other than blood.
-D
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