You’ve probably heard it on a playground, in a dusty old book of brainteasers, or maybe during a particularly intense game of Dungeons & Dragons. It's the classic logic puzzle: Who makes it has no need of it, who buys it has no use for it, and who uses it can neither see nor feel it.
The answer, of course, is a coffin.
It’s a bit macabre, honestly. But there is a reason this specific riddle has survived for centuries while thousands of others have vanished into the void of forgotten folklore. It taps into a very raw, very human irony about labor, commerce, and the one thing we all eventually have in common.
Where Did This Riddle Actually Come From?
Trying to find the "original" author of a folk riddle is like trying to find the first person who ever told a "knock-knock" joke. It’s basically impossible. However, folklorists like Archer Taylor, who wrote the definitive English Riddles from Oral Tradition, have tracked variations of this specific puzzle back through several hundred years of European history.
It’s not just an English thing.
In France, they’ve had versions of the "who makes it has no need of it" logic for generations. In German folklore, the phrasing often shifts slightly to focus on the carpenter’s perspective. What’s wild is that the core structure—the triad of the maker, the buyer, and the user—remains almost identical across different cultures and languages.
Why? Because the economic reality of death hasn't changed much in five hundred years.
Back in the 1700s, a village carpenter would build a casket as a service. He wasn't building it for himself—that would be a bad omen, or at the very least, a waste of storage space. The person paying for it was usually a grieving relative. They weren't the ones climbing inside. And the person inside? Well, they were beyond caring about the craftsmanship of the oak or the quality of the velvet lining.
✨ Don't miss: Williams Sonoma Deer Park IL: What Most People Get Wrong About This Kitchen Icon
The Psychology of Why We Love It
Most riddles are just wordplay. They rely on puns or double meanings. But "who makes it has no need of it" is different because it’s a "description of the object through the reactions of people."
It’s a perspective shift.
It forces your brain to inhabit three different roles in a single sentence. You start as the craftsman, move to the consumer, and end with the deceased. That’s a lot of heavy lifting for a three-line rhyme.
Psychologists often point out that riddles like this serve as a "safe" way to discuss death. We’re uncomfortable talking about mortality directly. It’s awkward. It’s scary. But if we turn it into a game—a puzzle to be solved—we can handle it. It turns a terrifying reality into a logical equation.
Common Variations and Modern Twists
While the "coffin" answer is the gold standard, people have tried to adapt the who makes it has no need of it framework to other things over the years. Some are clever; some are just plain bad.
Take "poison," for example. The person who makes it (the chemist or the assassin) doesn't want to drink it. The person who buys it (the plotter) doesn't want to drink it. But the person who "uses" it? They definitely feel it. So, that one falls apart at the end.
What about a counterfeit bill?
The person who prints it can't legally spend it (no need/want for the risk).
The person who knowingly buys it is a criminal looking to pass it off.
The person who finally "uses" it at a grocery store is the one who gets stuck with a worthless piece of paper.
🔗 Read more: Finding the most affordable way to live when everything feels too expensive
It’s close, but it lacks the poetic punch of the coffin.
Then you have the digital age variations. I’ve seen people try to apply this to "Terms of Service" agreements. The lawyer makes it but doesn't need to read it (they wrote it). The company buys the legal labor but doesn't "use" the text. The user? They "use" it by clicking "Accept," but they never actually see or feel the content because nobody reads the fine print.
Kinda works. Sorta. But it’s not going to be a classic in 200 years.
The Ethics of the Maker
There is a deeper, almost philosophical layer here about the alienation of labor. Karl Marx would have had a field day with this riddle.
Think about it. The person who makes the object is completely detached from the utility of the object. In a modern industrial sense, this happens every day. A factory worker in Shenzhen might spend twelve hours a day assembling high-end smartphones that they will never be able to afford and have no practical "need" for in their daily lives.
The riddle who makes it has no need of it is a perfect summary of the "unhappy consciousness" of the laborer. You create value that you do not consume.
Why the Riddle Still Ranks in Pop Culture
You’ll see this puzzle pop up in movies like Die Hard with a Vengeance (though they used the "As I was going to St. Ives" and the "jugs of water" puzzles more prominently, this one was in the original script treatments). It’s a staple for "gatekeeper" characters in fantasy novels.
💡 You might also like: Executive desk with drawers: Why your home office setup is probably failing you
It works because it feels ancient.
When a character in a movie asks a riddle, the audience wants to feel like they could have solved it. If the riddle is too modern, it feels cheap. If it’s "who makes it has no need of it," it feels like it’s been carved into a stone wall for a thousand years. It gives the scene instant gravity.
Beyond the Coffin: Actionable Insights for Puzzle Lovers
If you’re a fan of these types of logic puzzles, or if you’re looking to write your own, there are a few "rules" that make the who makes it has no need of it structure work so well.
- The Rule of Three: You need three distinct parties with three different relationships to the object.
- The Paradox of Use: The "user" must be the one with the least agency. In the coffin riddle, the user is dead. In a "blind man's cane" riddle (another variation), the user is the only one who doesn't "see" the utility in the same way.
- The Materiality Gap: The object must be physical but have a primary purpose that is non-physical (protection, status, transition).
If you want to dive deeper into this world, honestly, start with the Exeter Book. It’s a 10th-century codex that contains some of the weirdest, dirtiest, and most complex riddles in the English language. You’ll see that humans have been obsessed with "who makes it" and "who uses it" since we first learned how to write things down.
The reality is that this riddle isn't just about death. It's about the weird, interconnected ways we provide for each other. We spend our lives making things for people we will never meet, and eventually, someone will make something for us that we will never even know we’re using.
It’s a bit dark, sure. But it’s also kind of beautiful.
To explore more about the history of oral traditions, check out the archives at The Folklore Society or look into the works of Dan Ben-Amos, a giant in the field of folk literature who has spent decades explaining why these stories stick in our brains. Understanding the "why" behind a riddle makes the "what" a whole lot more interesting.
Next time you hear someone ask this, you won't just know the answer. You'll know the history, the economics, and the weird psychological tricks that make it a masterpiece of human language.
How to Use This Knowledge
- For Writers: Use the "triad of perspective" to describe objects in your stories without naming them. It builds mystery.
- For Parents: Use this riddle to teach kids about the concept of "perspective." It's a great way to explain that different people see the same object in very different ways.
- For Trivia Nerds: Remember that while "coffin" is the standard answer, "casket" is the Americanized variation, and "shroud" was the more common answer in medieval versions of the same logic.
The enduring power of who makes it has no need of it lies in its simplicity. It’s a reminder that some truths are so universal they don't need a fancy delivery. They just need a bit of logic and a touch of the macabre.