These reading notes come from a public domain edition of Mahabharata, which contains the story of Riddles at the Lake
In Riddles of the lake, the pandava brothers go looking for
water during their exile. Upon seeing a pond far off, the brothers send Nakula,
then Sahadeva, then Arjuna, and then Bhima to go scout it out. When they
arrive, they hear a voice as if from nowhere which says they must answer questions
before they drink the water. However, none of the three heed the warning, and
each of them dies after drinking from the pond. Finally, Yudhishthira comes
looking for the three and finds the three bodies around the pond. He breaks down
in sadness, but also hears the voice, which again tells him he must answer
riddles before drinking the water. Yudhishthira responds to the voice, asking
who it is. The voice identifies itself as a yaksha. Then, as the voice asks
questions, he answers the riddles one by one. Finally, finishing the riddles,
the Yaksha reveals itself as Dharma, the god of wisdom. He embraces Yudhishthira,
who is his son, and they revel together. Then Yudhishthira asks that his
friends be restored to life.
This story reminds me a lot of stories about sphinxes, which are often interpreted as asking unfortunate souls difficult riddles. It could be neat to incorporate this creature into the tale.
Image Information:
Sphinx - Wikipedia
Hey Nate. I also looked pretty close at this particular story and eventually decided to re-write it. I almost used a sphinx like you said but ultimately decided it would seem almost out of place in the jungle setting that I wanted to keep, so I ended up using some kind of water spirit creature instead. I wonder if you also think the brothers in this story were rather foolish in going one by one to the pond and repeatedly falling into the same trap.
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