FOR THE LOVE OF RIDDLES -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Widely is it known of the love the fae have for riddles. This is true especially when it comes to playing nasty games with mortals. Let me share some I found in an old dusty library that I hope you remember when one of the fae asks you it in return for your freedom. Black within and Red without. Round and deep, and good to keep, because you use it, once a week. Ten men's length, ten men's strength, ten men can't tear it, yet a little boy walks off with it. Up and down, up and down, touching neither sky nor ground. Back and white, and read all over. Without a bridle, or a saddle, across a thing, I sit astraddle. And those I ride, by help of me, tho' almost blind, are made to see. Round as an apple, flat as a chip. Got two eyes, but can't see a bit . Runs all day, but never runs away. What shoemaker makes shoes without leather, with all the four elements put together? Fire and water, earth and air? Every customer has two pair. Through the woods, through the woods I flew, and little as I may be, a man I did slew. I've seen you where you never were, and where you never will be. And yet within that very place, you can be seen by me. Three little ladies, all dressed in white, no use in the morning, but all in use at night. My face is marked, my hands a-movin' no time to play, got to run all day! As round as a pear, and as deep as a pail. If you want me to talk, you must pull my tail. Brick upon brick, hole in the middle. Guess this riddle, and I'll give you a fiddle. Round as a butter bowl, Deep as a cup. The Mississippi river cannot fill it up. Little Nancy etticoat, in a white petticoat. And a red nose; The longer she stands, the shorter she grows. North, South, North, South, North, South, A thousand teeth but no mouth. Mother, father, sister, brother, All running after one another, but can't catch each other. Two eyes I have which shine most bright, yet have I neiter legs nor feet. I have a mouth where I bite, But though I have, I've never. As I was going to Worchester, I met a man from Glouchester. I asked him where he was going, And he told me to Mouchester, to buy something that had neither top nor bottom, but which would hold flesh, blood, and bone. Brass button, Blue coat, even with authority, can catch a billy goat. Wooden belly, iron back, fire in the hole, goes off with a crack. As I was going over a bridge, I saw something in the hedge. It had four fingers and one thumbs, and was neither fish, flesh, fowl, nor bone. What is long and slim, works in the light, has but one eye, and an awful bite? Black within, and red without, four corners, roundabout. I've a tail like a flame, Pray tell me my name? What files forever and rests never? I am no fish, no flesh, no voice, but wen I'm born, I make a noise. As I went over London Bridge, there I met a man. He tipped his hat, and drew his cane, And in the riddle, I told you his name. It's over the hills and hollows, and bites but never swallows. I come from the heights, I cover the grass and go over the road. You can ear me pass. Lives in winter, dies in summer, and grows with its root upward. In at every window and every crack in your door. Round and a round the house. And never leave a track. As red as an apple, as round as a ball. Higher than the steeple, weather-cock and all. In the last minute of my age, I do wax young again, and have so still continued, since the world began. Higher than a house, though smaller than a mouse. Purple, yellow, red and green, The king cannot reach it, nor yet the fragile queen. Nor can old Noll, whose power's so great. Tell me this riddle before I count to eight. Round as an apple, yellow as gold. With more things in it, than you're years old. Old mother old, she lives in the cold, and every year se brings forth the young, and everyone without a tongue. Crooked as a ram's horn, Flat as a plate. Ten thousand horses, can't pull it straight. Runs all day and never walks. Often murmurs, but never talks. It has a bed, but never sleeps. It has a mouth, and never eats. What is it that lays uphill, lays down hill, lays still, and still goes to the mill. Long legs, and short thighs. Rusty back, and bullet eyes. Ears like a mule, runs like a fool. It wasn't the moon, It wasn't the stars. But it lighted up in the fields. He travels so much, and wherever he goes, he carries his trunk, at the end of his nose. I move without wings, between silken strings. I leave as you find, my substance behind. Flip, flop, fleecy. Slippery wet and greasy. When it's out. It flops about. Flip, flop, fleecy. Head like a cat. Feet like a cat. Tail like a cat. But it ain't a cat! Little yellow bird of paradise. She works her work both neat and nice. She pleases God, She pleases man. She does the work no man can. As I was going to Bramble all, I heard an old man give a call. His beard was meat, his mouth was horn, such a man was never born. A duck before two ducks. A duck between two ducks. A duck behind two ducks. Ducky Ducky yucky yucky. How many ducks? Behind the queen's kitchen, there is a great vat. And a great many workmen, working at that. Yellow are their toes, yellow are their clothes. Tell me this riddle, before I pull your nose. There was an apple on top of a tree. Two heard it when it fell. Two saw it. Five picked it up. And one hungry one ate it. What goes on four legs then two legs, then three legs, then none at all. As I went through a field of wheat. I picked up something good to eat. 'Twas neither fish, nor flesh, nor bone. I kept it till it walked alone. When first I appear I seem mysterious. But when I'm explained, I am nothing serious. Adam and eve and pinch-me-tight went over the river to see the fight. Adam and eve came back before the night. Now who was left to see the fight? I have a little sister. They call her peep peep peep. She wades the waters deep deep deep. She climbs the mountains high high high. Poor little creature, she has but one eye. :( Long, slim, and slender. Dark as homemade thunder. Keen eyes and peaked nose, scares the devil where ever he goes. Runs and jumps. Stops and humps. :) We never far asunder stray. Tho' we part a thousand times a day. Riddley, riddley, riddley rout. What does a little boy hold in his hand when he goes out? 'Tis in mountains, not in hills. 'Tis in meadows, not in fields. 'Tis in me and not in you. 'Tis in men and women too. If horse were sold like hats and shoes, What time of day would Adam choose? I know a word of letters three. Add two and fewer there will be. As I was going to St. Ives, I met a man with seven wives. Each wife had seven sacks. Each wife had seven cats. Each cat had seven kits. Kits, cats, sacks and wives, how many went to St. Ives? They call me lace. The neck to grace. And yet I wot That lace I'm not. It wasn't my sister nor my brother. But still was the child of my father and mother. Who? A word of three syllables see till you find. That has in it the twenty-six letters combined. There was a girl in our town. Silk an' satin was her gown. Silk an' satin, gold an' velvet. Guess her name, three times I've told it. What is that which belongs to you, but others use it more than you do? What is that which no man ever did see, which never was, and always is to be? Read my riddle, I pray: what god never sees, what the king seldom sees, what we see everyday. What do content men desire, The poor have and the rich require. The miser spends, the spender saves. And all men, carry to their graves? Light as a feather, nothing in it. A stout man can't hold it for more than a minute. There is a thing that nothing is, and yet it has a name. It's sometimes tall and sometimes short. It joins our walk, it joins our sport. And plays at every game. I tremble at each breath of air, and yet the heaviest burdens bear. Over the water. Under the water. Round the world it ranges. Never been seen by the eye of man, and never will. But oftentimes it changes. The beginning of eternity, the end of time and space. The beginning of every end and at the end of every place. I am something that never asks questions. But I demand a great many answers. I may be heard and caught. But never ever seen. I am too much for one, enough for two, but nothing at all for three. I occur once in every minute, twice in every moment. and yet only once in a hundred thousand years. I have four legs, but only one foot. I have three feet but am unable to walk. Your uncle's sister is not your aunt. What is she? I have wings yet never fly. I have sills but never go. I can't keep still if I try, yet forever stand just so. The mother of men was a lady whose name read backward and forward, but is always the same. Three of us in six. And five of us in seven. Four of us in nine. And six in eleven. Dressed in mail, never clinking, never thirsty, ever drinking. What runs along the lawn but never moves? Treasure chest without lock, key or lid. Yet golden treasure inside is hid. This thing all things devour. Birds, beasts, trees and flowers. Knaws on iron, bites steel, grinds hard stones to meal. Slays kings and ruins towns. And beats high mountains down. Thirty white horses on a red hill. First they champ. Then they stamp. Then they stand still. Voiceless it cries. Wingless it flutters. Toothless it bites. Mouthless it mutters. Down in the dark dungeon. There sits a brave knight. All bridled, all saddled, All ready to fight! Call his name for the brass of my bow, I've told you three times now! And still oh still you don't know!