post #151
08 September 2005, 01:27 UTC#151
Some riddles from books:
----
This thing all things devours:
Birds, beasts, trees, flowers;
Gnaws iron, bites steel;
Grinds hard stones to meal;
Slays king, ruins town,
And beats high mountain down.
What has roots as nobody sees,
Is taller than trees
Up, up it goes,
And yet never grows?
No-legs lay on one-leg, two legs sat near on three legs, four legs got some.
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.'
Alive without breath,
As cold as death;
Never thirsty, ever drinking,
All in mail never clinking
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.
Thirty white horses on a red hill,
First they champ,
Then they stamp,
Then they stand still.
A box without hinges, key or lid,
Yet golden treasure inside is hid.
Voiceless it cries,
Wingless flutters,
Toothless bites,
Mouthless mutters.
----
This thing all things devours:
Birds, beasts, trees, flowers;
Gnaws iron, bites steel;
Grinds hard stones to meal;
Slays king, ruins town,
And beats high mountain down.
What has roots as nobody sees,
Is taller than trees
Up, up it goes,
And yet never grows?
No-legs lay on one-leg, two legs sat near on three legs, four legs got some.
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.'
Alive without breath,
As cold as death;
Never thirsty, ever drinking,
All in mail never clinking
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.
Thirty white horses on a red hill,
First they champ,
Then they stamp,
Then they stand still.
A box without hinges, key or lid,
Yet golden treasure inside is hid.
Voiceless it cries,
Wingless flutters,
Toothless bites,
Mouthless mutters.