"Much in the psychology of the Polynesian has been shown to resemble closely that of the prehistoric civilizations which grouped around the Mediterranean. The taste for riddling is a minor but no less interesting example of this parallelism in mental habit and training, and the part played by the riddling contest in Hawaiian story is directly comparable with that which it plays in old European literary sources like the Scandinavian or the Greek tale of and the . ... In some Hawaiian stories of the ancient past, the contest of wit is represented as one of the accomplishments of th chiefs, taking its place with games of skill like arrow-throwing or checkers, with tests of strength like boxing or wrestling, and the arts of war such as sling-stone and spear-throwing as a means of rivalry. It is played as a betting contest, upon the results of which contestants even stake their lives."
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Columbia University alumniWomen academics from the United StatesAnthropologists from the United StatesWomen scientists from the United StatesVassar College faculty
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Martha Warren Beckwith
(January 19, 1871 – January 28, 1959) was an American anthropologist, ethnographer, , author, and translator. In 1918 she received from a Ph.D. in anthropology under the supervision of Franz Boas. In 1920, based upon the philanthropy of , Beckwith was hired as a research professor in folklore at . She thus became the first person to hold a professorial chair in folklore at any college or university in the United States.
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