Riddles

Riddles

A collection of riddles i got off a mailing list, way back when…

Riddle: I have many tongues but cannot taste

By me, most thigs are turned to waste

I crack and snap, yet I stay whole

I may take the largest toll

I assisted all of the first men

And I will pay them back again

Around me, people snuggle and sleep

Yet run when I am released from my keep

I jump around and leap and bound

The cold man whishes I he had found

What am I?

Answer: Fire


Riddle: My first is in wield, sever bones and marrow.

My second is in blade, forged in cold steel.

My third is in arbalest, and also in arrows.

My fourth is in power, plunged through a shield.

My fifth is in honour, and also in vows

My last will put an end to it all.

What am I?

Answer: Weapon


Riddle: My first is foremost legally,

My second circles outwardly,

My third leads all in victory,

My fourth ends twice a nominee

My whole is this gates only key.

What am I?

Answer: Love


Riddle: I turn my head and you may go where you want.

I turn it again, you will stay till you rot.

I have no face, but I live or die

by my crooked teeth

Who am I?

Answer: A Key


Riddle: High from heav’n her eye looks down,

Constant strife excites her frown;

Winged beings shun her sight,

She puts the youth to instant flight.

The aged too her looks do scout;

Oh! oh! the fugitive cries out.

And by her snares whoe’er is lured

Can never of his sin been cured.

Who am I?

Answer: The Sun


Riddle: High from heav’n her eye looks down,

Constant strife excites her frown;

Winged beings shun her sight,

She puts the youth to instant flight.

The aged too her looks do scout;

Oh! oh! the fugitive cries out.

And by her snares whoe’er is lured

Can never of his sin been cured.

Who am I?

Answer: I don’t know the answer so e-mail me if you know the answer

Suggestions Received: wind storm, hurricane, tornado, darkness or night, leaf, ancient (red) dragon, death, moon, sun, arrow, Medusa, lycanthropy


Riddle: A handless man had a letter to write,

And he who read it had lost his sight;

The dumb repeated it word for word,

And deaf was the man who listened and heard.

Who am I?

Answer: I don’t know the answer so e-mail me if you know the answer

Suggestions Received: silence, troglidyte, imagination, desire, sun, nothing, the one least expected, death, love, tape recorder, faith, riddle, thought, apathy, gossip, contradiction, lie, want, musical note, fight, malediction (curse), evil, human detemination, typewriter, cursed scroll, sign language, brail, dream, human brain


Riddle: What kind of ear cannot hear?

What am I?

(Hint: No, the answer is not “Mike Tyson’s latest snack”.)

Answer: An ear of corn


Riddle: There is one that has a head without an eye,

And there’s one that has an eye without a head.

You may find the answer if you try;

And when all is said,

Half the answer hangs by a thread.

What am I?

Answer: Pins and Needles


Riddle: Black I am and much admired,

Men seek me until they’re tired;

When they find me, break my head,

And take me from my resting bed.

What am I?

Answer: Coal


Riddle: Who becomes pregnant without conceiving?

Who becomes fat without eating?

Answer: Clouds


Riddle: In the dark night flies a many-hued phantom.

It soars and spreads its wings

above the gloomy human crowd.

The whole world calls to it,

the whole world implores it.

At dawn the phantom vanishes

to be reborn in every heart.

And every night it is born anew

and every day it dies!

What am I?

Answer: Hope


Riddle: Two brothers we are, great burden we bear

By which we are bitterly pressed.

In truth we may say

We are full all the day

But empty we go to our rest.

What am I?

Answer: Shoes (or boots)


Riddle: Of no use to one

Yet absolute bliss to two.

The small boy gets it for nothing.

The young man has to lie for it.

The old man has to buy it.

The baby’s right,

The lover’s privilege,

The hypocrite’s mask.

To the young girl, faith;

To the married woman, hope;

To the old maid, charity.

What am I?

Answer: A Kiss


Riddle: A wee wee man

In a red red coat

Staff in my hand

And a stone in my throat.

What am I?

Answer: A Cherry


Riddle: What runs around a city

but never moves?

What am I?

Answer: A Wall


Riddle: What is full of holes and holds water?

What am I?

Answer: A Sponge

Riddle: Iron roof, glass walls

Burns and burns

And never falls.

What am I?

Answer: A Lantern


Riddle: I cut through evil like a double edged sword,

And chaos flees at my approach.

Balance I single-handedly upraise,

Through battles fought with heart and mind,

Instead of with my gaze.

What am I?

Answer:Justice


Riddle: It holds most knowledge that has ever been said;

But is not the brain, is not the head.

To feathers and their masters, ’tis both bane and boon.

One empty, and one full.

What am I?

Answer:Paper


Riddle: It comes only before,

It comes only after,

Rises only in darkness,

But rises only in light.

It is always the same,

But is yet always different.

What am I?

Answer:The moon


Riddle: A golden treasure that never stays;

The coin whose face gives wealth to all.

Strands, nuggets, and dust of gold are all bought with its shining grace. . .

And all are more precious than any gleaming metal.

What am I?

Answer:The sun


Riddle: I run through hills;

I veer around mountains.

I leap over rivers and crawl through the forests.

Step out your door to find me.

What am I?

Answer:The road


Riddle: Inside me the adventurous find

Quests and treasures of every kind.

Trolls, goblins, orcs, and more, await

 Within my closed walls for

All those that wish to visit me.

Your hands are the key

To secrets untold,

 And your mind will unlock the door.

What am I?

Answer:A book


Riddle: Stronger than steel

 And older than time;

They are more patient than death

 and shall stand even when the stars have ceased to shine.

Their strength is embedded

in roots buried deep

Where the sands and frosts of ages

can never hope to touch or reach.

What am I?

Answer:Mountains


Riddle: Creatures of power, creatures of grace,

Creatures of beauty, creatures of strength.

As for their lives,

they set everything’s pace,

For all things must come to live

  under their emerald embrace. . .

Either in their life, or in their death.

What am I?

Answer:Trees


Riddle: As beautiful as the setting sun,

     As delicate as the morning dew;

An angel’s dusting from the stars

     that can turn the Earth into

A frosted moon.

What am I?

Answer:Snow


Riddle: As destructive as life,

     As healing as death;

An institutioner of strife,

     Just as prone to bless.

It is all that is good,

     Yet with an evil trend;

As it was the beginning of things,

     It can also be the end.

What am I?

Answer:Fire, but Love also seems to work (though it was not the intended


Riddle: I am the part of the bird

     that is not in the sky,

Who can drown in the ocean

     and yet remain dry.

A last vestige of man

     that refuses to die.

In mourning I am tossed

     at your feet to lie;

I begin my job early,

     devouring your ankles and thighs.

I work my way up,

     eating your legs to your waist.

And though around midday away I am chased,

     I return quickly,

To savor the arm of my taste.

     As evening falls I enter your lungs,

Spiraling down

     past your mouth and your tongue.

I feast on your body, your soul, and your mind,

     but as darkness falls you shall find

That away I will go, a relief for some;

     At least until tomorrow morning comes.

What am I?

Answer:Your shadow


Riddle: When you look into my face,

     I shall never lie;

Instead be but a window into your soul,

     whether there light or shadows hide;

As in me many see their deaths

     where others see their lives;

In this deny me many try,

     but they simply twist their knives;

For though prejudiced to some I may seem,

     THE LIE IS THEIR OWN LIVES.

What am I?

Answer: A mirror


Riddle: Two bodies have I,

though both joined in one.

The more still I stand,

the quicker I run.

What am I?

Answer: An hourglass

Riddle: You get many of me, but never enough.

After the last one, your life soon will snuff.

You may have one of me but one day a year,

When the last one is gone, your life disappears.

What am I?

Answer: A birthday.


Riddle: I make you weak at the worst of all times.

I keep you safe, I keep you fine.

I make your hands sweat, and your heart grow cold,

I visit the weak, but seldom the bold.

What am I?

Answer: Fear



Riddle: Double my number, I’m less than a score,

Half of my number is less than four.

Add one to my double when bakers are near,

Days of the week are still greater, I fear.

What am I?

Answer: Six


Riddle: I weaken all men for hours each day.

I show you strange visions while you are away.

I take you by night, by day take you back,

None suffer to have me, but do from my lack.

What am I?

Answer: Sleep


Riddle: There is a house that has every window oriented to North.

There is a bear in front of this house.

What color is the bear?

Answer: The bear is white, because the only house having all its windows oriented to North is a house placed at South Pole. So the bear is white.


Riddle: They have not flesh, nor feathers,

Nor scales, nor bone.

Yet they have fingers and thumbs,

Of their own.

What am I?

Answer: Gloves


Riddle: It is more beautiful than the face of your love.

It is more scary than your worst fear.

Dead men eat it all the time.

If a live man eats it, he soon will die.

What am I?

Answer: Nothing


Riddle: In many hallways you would stand,

If not with this in hand.

What am I?

Answer: A Key.


Riddle: He who makes me doesn’t want me,

He who buys me doesn’t need me,

He who uses me doesn’t care.

What am I?

Answer: A casket.


Riddle: What is faster than the speed of sound, but is still human?

Answer: The thought.


Riddle: I’m the source of all emotion, but I’m caged in a white prison.

What am I?

Answer: The heart.


Riddle: There are four brothers in this world that were all born together:

The first he runs and never wearies,

The second eats and is never full.

The third he drinks and is ever thirsty,

And the fourth sings a song that is never good.

Who are we?

Answer: Water, Fire, Earth, and Wind.


Riddle: If you have it,

You want to share it.

If you share it,

You don’t have it.

What is it?

Answer: A secret


Riddle: I don’t think or eat or slumber

or move around or fear thunder

just like you I look the same

but I can’t harm you or be your bane

What am I?

Answer: A doll


Riddle: What has roots as nobody sees,

Is taller than trees,

Up, up it goes,

And yet never grows?

Answer: A mountain


Riddle: Thirty white horses on a red hill,

First they champ,

Then they stamp,

Then they stand still.

What are we?

Answer: Teeth


Riddle: Voiceless it cries,

Wingless it flutters,

Toothless bites,

Mouthless mutters.

What am I?

Answer: Wind


Riddle: An eye in a blue face

Saw an eye in a green face.

“That eye is like to this eye”

Said the first eye,

“But in low place,

Not in high place.”

What am I?

Answer: Daisy in field of grass, big eye is sun


Riddle: It cannot be seen, cannot be felt,

Cannot be heard, cannot be smelt.

It lies behind stars and under hills,

    And empty holes it fills.

It comes first and follows after,

    Ends life, kills laughter.

What am I?

Answer: Darkness


Riddle: A box without hinges, key, or lid,

Yet golden treasure inside is hid.

What am I?

Answer: Egg


Riddle: Alive without breath,

As cold as death;

Never thirsty, ever drinking,

All in mail never clinking.

What am I?

Answer: Fish


Riddle: This thing all things devours:

Birds, beast,trees, flowers;

Gnaws iron, bites steel;

Grinds hard stones to meal;

Slays king, ruins town,

And beats high mountain down.

What am I?

Answer: Time


Riddle: You feel it, but never see it and never will.

What am I?

Answer: Heart


Riddle: You must keep it after giving it.

What am I?

Answer: Your word


Riddle: As light as a feather, but you can’t hold it for ten minutes.

What am I?

Answer: Your breath


Riddle: Has a mouth but does not speak, has a bed but never sleeps.

What am I?

Answer: River

Riddle: Runs smoother than any rhyme, loves to fall but cannot climb!

What am I?

Answer: Water


Riddle: You break it even if you name it!

What am I?

Answer: Silence


Riddle: It passes before the sun and makes no shadow.

What am I?

Answer: Air


Riddle: You feed it, it lives, you give it something to drink, it dies.

What am I?

Answer: Fire


Riddle: A red drum which sounds

Without being touched,

And grows silent,

When it is touched.

What am I?

Answer: Heart


Riddle: Two horses, swiftest travelling,

Harnessed in a pair, and

Grazing ever in places

Distant from them.

What am I?

Answer: Eyes


Riddle: A harvest sown and reaped on the same day

In an unplowed field,

Which increases without growing,

Remains whole though it is eaten

Within and without,

Is useless and yet

The staple of nations.

What am I?

Answer: War


Riddle: If you break me

I do not stop working,

If you touch me

I may be snared,

If you lose me

Nothing will matter.

What am I?

Answer: Hope


Riddle: All about, but cannot be seen,

Can be captured, cannot be held

No throat, but can be heard.

What am I?

Answer: Wind


Riddle: I go around in circles,

But always straight ahead

Never complain,

No matter where I am led.

What am I?

Answer: Wheel


Riddle: Lighter than what

I am made of,

More of me is hidden

Than is seen.

What am I?

Answer: Ice


Riddle: If a man carried my burden,

He would break his back.

I am not rich,

But leave silver in my track.

What am I?

Answer: Snail


Riddle: My life can be measured in hours,

I serve by being devoured.

Thin, I am quick

Fat, I am slow

Wind is my foe.

Answer: Candle


Riddle: Weight in my belly,

Trees on my back,

Nails in my ribs,

Feet I do lack.

What am I?

Answer: boat, but I accepted cave as an answer


Riddle: You can see nothing else

When you look in my face

I will look you in the eye

And I will never lie.

What am I?

Answer: mirror


Riddle: I am always hungry,

I must always be fed,

The finger I lick

Will soon turn red.

What am I?

Answer: fire


Riddle: Three lives have I.

Gentle enough to soothe the skin,

Light enough to caress the sky

Hard enough to crack rocks.

What am I?

Answer: water


Riddle: Glittering points

That downward thrust,

Sparkling spears

That never rust.

What am I?

Answer: iceicles, teeth or stalactites?


Riddle: Each morning I appear

To lie at your feet,

All day I follow

No matter how fast you run,

Yet I nearly perish

In the midday sun.

What am I?

Answer: shadow


Riddle: Keys without locks

Yet I unlock the soul.

What am I?

Answer: piano,harpsichord


Riddle: Something wholly unreal, yet seems real to I

Think my friend, tell me where does it lie?

Answer: in the mind


Riddle: I am so simple,

That I can only point

Yet I guide men

All over the world.

What am I?

Answer: compass


Riddle: A beggar’s brother went out to sea and drowned.

But the man who drowned had no brother.

What was the relationship between the man who drowned and the beggar?

What am I?

Answer: the beggars was his sister


Riddle: First will be last

Last will be first

and all in between will also be cursed

open the door, and the thing will be there

so be carefull and beware ! speak, frie

What am I?

Answer: unknownnd, and enter !


Riddle: Man of old, it is told

Would search until he tired,

Not for gold, ne’er be sold,

But what sought he was fire. Man today, thou mayst say,

Has quite another aim,

In places deep, he did seek,

To find me for his gain!

What am I?

Answer: knowledge? oil? diamonds?


Riddle: For our ambrosia we were blessed,

by Jupiter, with a sting of death.

Though our might, to some is jest,

we have quelled the dragon’s breath.

What am I?

Answer: Bees


Riddle: Colored as a maiden tweaked,

time was naught when I began;

through the garden I was sneaked,

I alone am the fall of man.

What am I?

Answer: An Apple


Riddle: Early ages the iron boot tread,

with Europe at her command.

Through time power slipped and fled,

’til the creation of new holy land.

What am I?

Answer: Italy (Rome)


Riddle: One thin, one bold,

one sick, one cold.

The earth we span,

to prey upon man.

What am I?

Answer: The Four Horsemen of Apocolypse


Riddle: One where none should be,

or maybe where two should be,

seeking out purity,

in the kings trees.

What am I?

Answer: A Unicorn


Riddle: He who makes it does not keep it.

He who takes it does not know it.

He who knows it does not want it.

He who gathers it must destroy it.

What am I?

Answer: Counterfiet Money


Riddle: One tooth to bite,

he’s the forests foe.

One tooth to fight,

as all Norse know.

What am I?

Answer: An Axe


Riddle: This creature, part man and part tree,

hates the termite as much as the flea.

His tracks do not match,

and his limbs may detach,

but he’s not a strange creature to see.

What am I?

Answer: A Man With A Wooden Leg


Riddle: The part of the bird

that is not in the sky,

which can swim in the ocean

and always stay dry.

What am I?

Answer: A Shadow


Riddle: Dead and bound,

what once was free.

What made no sound,

now sings with glee.

What am I?

Answer: A Wooden, Stringed Instrument


Riddle: The root tops the trunk

on this backward thing,

that grows in the winter

and dies in the spring.

What am I?

Answer: An Icicle


Riddle: Touching one, yet holding two,

it is a one link chain

binding those who keep words true,

’til death rent it in twain.

What am I?

Answer: A Wedding Ring


Riddle: A house of wood in a hidden place

Built without nails or glue

High above the earthen ground

It holds pale gems of blue.

What am I?

Answer: A Robin’s Nest


Riddle: Inside a great blue castle

Lives a shy young maid

She blushes in the morning

And comes not out at night.

What am I?

Answer: The sun



Riddle: I have legs but walk not

A strong back but work not

Two good arms but reach not

A seat but sit and tarry not

What am I?

Answer: A chair


Riddle: I can be touched

But I hurt those who touch me

I move swiftly through a dry forest

But die in a mountain stream

Where I pass I leave a black shroud.

What am I?

Answer: Fire


Riddle: He who makes it needs it not

He who buys it wants it not

He who uses it feels it not

What am I?

Answer: A coffin


Riddle: In marble halls as white as milk,

Lined with a skin as soft as silk,

Within a fountain crystal-clear,

A golden apple doth appear.

No doors there are to this stronghold,

Yet thieves break in and steal the gold.

What am I?

Answer: An egg


Riddle: ‘Twas in heaven pronounced, and ’twas muttered in hell,

An echo caught faintly the sound as it fell;

On the confines of earth ’twas permitted to rest,

And the depths of the ocean its presence confessed;

‘Twill be found in the sphere when ’tis riven asunder,

Be seen in the lightning and heard in the thunder.

‘Twas allotted to man with his earliest breath,

Attends him at birth, and awaits him in death,

Presides o’er his happiness, honor, and health,

Is the prop of his house, and the end of his wealth.

In the heaps of the miser ’tis hoarded with care,

But is sure to be lost on the prodigal heir.

It begins every hope, every wish it must bound,

With the husbandman toils, and with monarchs is crowned.

Without it the soldier, the seamn may roam,

But woe to the wretch who expels it from home!

In the whispers of conscience its voice will be found,

Nor e’en in the whirlwind of passion be drowned.

‘Twill not soften the heart; but though deaf be the ear,

It will make it acutely and instantly hear.

Yet in shade let it rest, like a delicate flower,

Ah… breathe on it softly, – it dies in an hour.

What am I?

Answer: The letter ‘H’


Riddle: The beginning of eternity,

The end of time and space,

The beginning of every end,

The end of every place.

What am I?

Answer: The letter ‘E’


Riddle: Robbers came to our house

And we were all in.

The house leaped out at the windows

And we were all taken in.

What am I?

Answer: Fish in a net


Riddle: Though I dance at a ball, I am nothing at all.

What am I?

Answer: A shadow


Riddle: As I was going to St. Ives,

I met a man who had seven wives.

Each wife had seven sacks,

Each sack had seven cats,

Each cat had seven kits.

Kits, cats, sacks and wives,

How many were going to St. Ives?

Answer: One


Riddle: Look into my face and I’m everybody;

Scratch my back and I’m nobody.

What am I?

Answer: A mirror


Riddle: Goes over all the hills and hollows,

Bites hard, but never swallows.

What am I?

Answer: Frost


Riddle: I walked and walked and at last I got it;

I didn’t want it, so I stopped and looked for it;

When I found it, I threw it away.

What am I?

Answer: A thorn


Riddle: Lives in winter, dies in summer,

Grows with its root upwards.

What am I?

Answer: An icicle


Riddle: A man rode to town on Friday.

He stayed there all night,

and came back on the same Friday.

How can this be?

Answer: His horse is named “Friday”


Riddle: Fatherless and Motherless, born without sin

Roared when it came into the world,

And never spoke again.

What am I?

Answer: Thunder

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