Getty Can a bird and a fish fall in love?
A new viral “riddle” has been circulating on social media. This one asks how a fish and a bird who fall in love might end up having a life together. Read on to learn more about this question, including the answer.
The viral riddle that’s making the rounds is typically worded like this:
A fish and a bird could fall in love, but where would they live?
Or it might be worded this way:
If a bird and a fish were to fall in love, where would they live?
Even though some social media posts are phrasing this like it’s a riddle, it’s really not technically a riddle at all. The question is more of a philosophical saying that prompts a discussion. In fact, if it sounds familiar it might be because it’s a quote from a movie.
Here’s the Answer to the Viral ‘Riddle’
There are several possible answers to this question. One is that they may be in love but they can never build a home together.
The question may also sound familiar to you because it’s a quote from Drew Barrymore in the movie Ever After when she said: “A bird may love a fish…but where would they live?” The answer in the movie was: “Then I shall have to make you wings.”
The question is asking the listener to consider just how different their two worlds are. Is there ever a time when love is simply not enough? The bird lives in the sky and the trees, while the fish lives in the water. They have two very different worlds. How could they live together even if they wanted to?
On a Quora discussion, Bill Huebner wrote:
Such a pairing would only be possible within the realm of human imagination. But we’re capable of not only imagining something such as “love” that transcends species, we’re capable of putting it into pixels and movement.
He then shared this video illustrating the question:
Another person, Mei Douthitt, suggested: “There’s no way they could live together and survive, although the fish (depending on species) could jump into the air, and the bird (depending on species) could dive into the water for short periods.”
Another popular answer, also shared on Quora by John Young, reads:
Air and water meet intimately in the clouds, in rain and mist and dew. They meet in the bubbles and babbles of babbling brooks and the seafoam where the waves meet the shore. They meet in the storm and the rainbow that follows. Air and water are mates, and they meet like lovers throughout nature. They meet in our own nature.
If a bird and fish were to fall in love, they would live harmoniously where water and air mingle: in a place of quiet pools and slow flowing water. Dappled sunlight would pass through the sprays of leaves overhead to dance on the surface.
And life would be a glorious thing, there where bird and fish celebrate the glories of love, there in the flash of their momentary lives, there in the only truth that lives in this universe of illusion and disillusion.
If you want to see a real video of a bird appearing to fall in love with a fish, it actually has happened. Here’s one shared by the Facebook page I Love Birds.
Perhaps this video is the true answer to the riddle.
This is just one of many riddles that are circulating on sites like Facebook and Instagram during the coronavirus pandemic. If you’ve seen the “How Many Ducks Do You See?” riddle and were stumped, check out Heavy’s explanation here. If you ran into the “I Met a Man on London Bridge” riddle and have no idea what the man’s name is, you can find the answer in Heavy’s story here. The answer to the “You Enter a Bedroom” riddle is here, and the answer to the “Can You Open the Lock Using These Clues?” riddle is here.
If you’re looking for the answer to the “Hotel with 100 Rooms” riddle, it’s here. The answer to the “State Without an A” riddle is here. The answer to the “How many letters are in the answer?” riddle is here. And the answer to the “Penny Has 5 Children” riddle is here.
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