Please save my sanity!!

Sounds like some kind of insect larva that found it's way into life via bird poop.

Can't help on your riddle, but welcome, sweetypete.

I was known as "Sweet Pete" a few years ago.

KP

Hi there, just worked it out. No point in using google - or you'll just see some reference to some sh1t band. lol

here's a clue for ya. A breed of dog is strongly linked to the answer.

gl

To Paddyp:

I said save my sanity!!! Not tease me with hints!! Tell me what it is please!!

Sorry - you have to work for it - I did. One word clue -
beagle - you're close now....

Now that's not very nice!! If you remember, I said I have been trying to solve the answer for several months. My brain is fried!! Please take pity on a poor tired girl and tell me what you came up with. Please?!?!

have you worked it out yet
beagle is a boat used by darwin, if its any help

Sure - you give it away SeanCarlin -why don't you just tell her the answer is in Chapter 17 of one of his books too....
ruin all my fun why don't ya.....

There was still some work to do even with my clue, but not anymore thanks to you paddyp

You two have GOT to be kidding!!! I couldn't find the answer in that chapter if you put a gun to my head!! Just give me the answer PLEASE!!! I can't take it anymore!!

the answer is in one paragraph in 'that' chapter. What is the title of the book you're looking in?

Please save my sanity!!
The book is called The Voyage of the Beagle.

Hi SP

when you posted this the problem was "I was laid by the buzzard" the only thing that a buzzard lays is eggs, which cannot be hatched by the sun. they have to be incubated by the bird.

Second thing I thought was some eggs ARE hatched by the sun I.E. alligators, and turtles lay their eggs in a hole in the sand cover them with sand and leave, they never see their offspring.

If you have ever seen Sir David attenborough's nature documentaries you will know that all turtle eggs hatch on the same night of the year when tens of thousands of baby turtles make a dash for the sea and safety,to be hotly pursued by flocks of birds who on this night have a banquet. So to sum up: BABY TURTLE

I was hatched by the sun yes.
mom and dad I had none yes
I spoke my first word yes (when caught by the buzzard it cried out)
I never spoke again yes (it was now dead)

Which leaves us with "I was laid by the buzzard" if you use the meaning of "lay" as in hit someone, you lay them out cold, or you lay them low, if stretched a bit it could fit, perhaps the riddle has been bent out of shape over time, and is not quite in it's proper wording.

This may not be the answer of course but if not I give in.

close....
Kev - you are so close - but not quite there. Your 'spoke' bit actually has a different meaning. The animal you refer to is incorrect.

SP
The Book you're looking in is correct. You know the chapter. You know it's one paragraph. You've got the clues above. Tell me you know the answer!!!!

I cant help anymore, paddyp has scared me off.
he is being a bit sadistic with this one

I agree seancarlin.....I said that I couldn't find the answer in that chapter and he's still tormenting me. I wish he would just tell me and put me out of my misery!! Please!!!

I think Kev is correct. Paddyp is talking about the fact that Galapagos Tortioses don't make any noise except for the males during mating, but I don't think that really has anything to do with this riddle. The answer should be a baby turtle (or if you agree with paddyp then a baby galapagos tortoise.)

Pete,

Here you go. You can interpret the riddle as you like. The 'spoke once bit' is referring to the male tortoise - ie it hatched, didn't get eaten, and only mated once in it's life. It doesn't necessarily have to 'speak' when it is born. There is no time reference in the riddle.

Otherwise it could be referring to a 'squeak' it made as it was eaten by the buzzard. I prefer the first option.
Whoever came up with this riddle had a literary mind and left alot to be interpreted by the person trying to solve it.

Where the people above got turtle from I have no idea - there are no reference to turtles in this chapter and it is quite obvious that this is where the riddle originated. Please enlighten me....or did you just make it up...lol

http://human-nature.com/darwin/voyage/chap17.html

"The tortoises, when purposely moving towards any point, travel by night and day, and arrive at their journey's end much sooner than would be expected. The inhabitants, from observing marked individuals, consider that they travel a distance of about eight miles in two or three days. One large tortoise, which I watched, walked at the rate of sixty yards in ten minutes, that is 360 yards in the hour, or four miles a day, -- allowing a little time for it to eat on the road. During the breeding season, when the male and female are together, the male utters a hoarse roar or bellowing, which, it is said, can be heard at the distance of more than a hundred yards. The female never uses her voice, and the male only at these times; so that when the people hear this noise, they know that the two are together. They were at this time (October) laying their eggs. The female, where the soil is sandy, deposits them together, and covers them up with sand; but where the ground is rocky she drops them indiscriminately in any hole: Mr. Bynoe found seven placed in a fissure. The egg is white and spherical; one which I measured was seven inches and three-eighths in circumference, and therefore larger than a hen's egg. The young tortoises, as soon as they are hatched, fall a prey in great numbers to the carrion-feeding buzzard. The old ones seem generally to die from accidents, as from falling down precipices: at least, several of the inhabitants told me, that they never found one dead without some evident cause."

Anyway - sorry for any hair loss. The answer is tur.....tortoise...lol

It is quite obvious that this is where the riddle originated

Really? and what could possibly make you think that PaddyP?

There is absolutely no reference to Charles Darwin, or his ship The Beagle, or any of his published work in any shape or form whatsoever in the above riddle, so what made it so obvious to you, that the answer was in the work of Charles Darwin?

I await your explanation ( to enlighten my darkness) with bated breath.