A big Indian and a small Indian were sitting smoking their pipes. The small Indian was the son of the big Indian but the big Indian was not the little Indian's father. How is this possible?

Answer 1

The answer to the riddle is: The big Indian was his mother.

Note: There is nothing politically incorrect about identifying the ethnicity of the pipe smokers and until the U.S. Government changes the name of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the term "Indian" can be used without intending insult when referring to a Native American. This is an Indian riddle, and has been an Indian riddle for ages.

The importance of leaving the ethnicity specified is to cause the person who is being asked the riddle to re-evaluate their mental image of "Indian". With only a few exceptional cases, such as Sakajawea, most non-Native Americans can be expected to envision a male when they hear the term "Indian". Michael posed a similar riddle to Archie on an episode of "All in the Family". The intent was to demonstrate Archie's close-mindedness since he could not imagine a woman being a surgeon. A man brings his son to the emergency room. Shortly afterwards, the boy is brought to the surgeon and his father stays in the waiting room. The surgeon examines the boy and announces: "I cannot operate on this boy, he is my son."