Collecting and Contextualising Sundait (Riddles) among the Rungus People of Sabah

A field exercise conducted among the Rungus people of Sabah, East Malaysia, yielded a total of seventy-eight riddles, together with valuable contextual information on the practice of riddling. The products of this research are herein recorded in both the Rungus and English languages, and it is hoped that the data will prove useful to researchers, who may be interested in pursuing scholarships on riddling in the Rungus society. A crucial discovery made during the research concerns the taboo aspects of riddling: riddles can only be posed during the paddy harvest period - and not at other times during daily life. Consequently, this paper sets out to investigate the reasons why the practice of riddling is restricted, while also examining the traditional, cultural and religious contexts associated with the activity.