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One of the literary derivatives of the riddle deserves particular attention because it shows the connection between the sacred and the ludic in a very striking manner. This is the philosophical or theological interrogative discourse. The theme is always the same: a sage is questioned by another sage or a number of sages.

Being then was not, nor not-being. The air was not, nor the sky above it. What kept closing in Where? And whose the enclosure? And was the plunging abyss all water? / Death then was not, nort not-death; and there was no distinction between day and night. Nothing breathed save That, windlessly of itself; there was nothing beyond That anywhere.