Riddles

[MHaji]

I love riddles, but I've yet to see a riddle thread. So, here's one to start with:

Dark when it's still, and aglow when it goes -
Its eye's in its belly, its tail's on its nose.

Anybody got any others?

[Transgirlenstein]

Not sure about that one.  My favorites are:

What is it no man wants to have but no man wants to lose?

There are three men in a boat with four cigarettes and no matches.  How do they manage to smoke?

What has four fingers and a thumb?

The man who builds it doesn't need it, the man who buys it doesn't use it, the man who uses it doesn't want it. What is it?

[saturnschild]

Why is a Raven like a writing desk?

yeah try to figure that on out.

[Sephora]

I can travel around the entire world; all while staying in one corner.  What am I?

[Transgirlenstein]

Is it a thought?

[Sephora]

Nope!  ^___^ Want me to tell you?

[Transgirlenstein]

Yes please

[Sephora]

A postage stamp

[Transgirlenstein]

Oh thats good

[MHaji]

What is it no man wants to have but no man wants to lose?

Hmm. A sixth finger on his hand? A bit out there... a prosthetic, like a hearing aid, wooden leg, or glass eye? A fight to the death? One, and only one, appeal to a death sentence? I think there're lots of answers.

There are three men in a boat with four cigarettes and no matches.  How do they manage to smoke?

If one had a cigarette already lit, they could light off of it. Alternatively, they were struck by lightning and all caught on fire.

What has four fingers and a thumb?

A person with one hand? A hand with a missing digit, because the thumb is a finger? Something hand-shaped, like a glove or a wooden hand?

The man who builds it doesn't need it, the man who buys it doesn't use it, the man who uses it doesn't want it. What is it?

Heard this one.

Why is a Raven like a writing desk?

Lewis Carroll never gave an answer, but there are a few good ones.

I can travel around the entire world; all while staying in one corner.  What am I?

Heard this one; my initial answer, "A person who is in a perpetual coma, sleeps in a corner bed, and is highly imaginative" was deemed too morbid.

Another of mine:

Errors we'll own to, if we're wise;
What Gollum runs for exercise. (Hint: one word, six letters.)

[Bliss]

There are three men in a boat with four cigarettes and no matches.  How do they manage to smoke?

If one had a cigarette already lit, they could light off of it. Alternatively, they were struck by lightning and all caught on fire.

...they have a lighter, would be my guess. *grin* Or if they want to get tricky and someone has glasses they can try to focus the sunlight.

[MHaji]

Bliss: Oooh, yes, that's a definite possibility. But I wondered what the purpose of the fourth cigarette was, in that case.

[Transgirlenstein]

There are three men in a boat with four cigarettes and no matches.  How do they manage to smoke?
They throw one cigarette overboard and make the boat a cigarette lighter.

What has four fingers and a thumb?
A glove

What is it no man wants to have but no man wants to lose?
A lawsuit

[Marguerite]

The man who builds it doesn't need it, the man who buys it doesn't use it, the man who uses it doesn't want it. What is it?

A casket to put the dead in.

[Transgirlenstein]

Correct

[Marguerite]

I have a little house in which I live all alone. It has no doors or windows, and if I want to go out I must break through the wall.

[MHaji]

I have a little house in which I live all alone. It has no doors or windows, and if I want to go out I must break through the wall.

An embryo in an egg?

What is it no man wants to have but no man wants to lose?
A lawsuit

I wish there weren't people who wanted to have those.

[Marguerite]

An embryo in an egg?

Close enough, answer was a chicken egg but it does hold the same.

[Inkidu]

You're trapped in a room with stone walls, it has no windows and no door. All that is in it is a table and a wood saw. How do you get out?

[saturnschild]

you use the table to make a door

[Inkidu]

you use the table to make a door

Close. You saw the table in half, put the two halves together, and make a whole.

[MHaji]

You're trapped in a room with stone walls, it has no windows and no door. All that is in it is a table and a wood saw. How do you get out?

You embed the saw in the table and fall upon it, seeking the sweet release of death. Oh, wait, is this a children's riddle?

Huh. None of mine have been answered, or even tried, yet. We'll try another:

Strange it may be, but my prey swallows me,
Then I spew out my guts, though I haven't a throat.
Without mate or wife, I write offspring to life,
And then each one escapes, having borrowed a coat.

[MusicNeverDies]

Not sure about that one.  My favorites are:

What is it no man wants to have but no man wants to lose?

A bald head

[saturnschild]

Pronounced as one letter,
And written with three,
Two letters there are,
And two only in me.
I'm double, I'm single,
I'm black, blue, and gray,
I'm read from both ends,
And the same either way.
What am I?

Father just told me this one.

[MusicNeverDies]

Pronounced as one letter,
And written with three,
Two letters there are,
And two only in me.
I'm double, I'm single,
I'm black, blue, and gray,
I'm read from both ends,
And the same either way.
What am I?

Father just told me this one.

Eye

[saturnschild]

Bingo.

[Nadir]

Why is a Raven like a writing desk?

Lewis Carroll never gave an answer, but there are a few good ones.

Oh, he did. He answered it in 1896. "Because it can produce a few notes, tho they are very flat; and it is nevar put with the wrong end in front!"

*adjusts monocle*

How about this one -

'Twas whispered in heaven, 'twas muttered in hell,
And 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;
'Tis seen in the lightning, and heard in the thunder.
'Twas allotted to man from his earliest breath;
It assists at his birth, and attends him in death;
It presides o'er his happiness, honour, and health;
Is the prop of his house, and the end of his wealth.
In the heap of the miser 'tis hoarded with care,
But is sure to be lost in his prodigal heir.
It begins every hope, every wish it must bound,
It prays with the hermit, with monarchs is crowned.
Without it the soldier and seaman may roam,
But woe to the wretch who expels it from home.
In the whispers of conscience 'tis sure to be found;
Nor e'en in the whirlwind of passion is drowned.
'Twill soften the heart, and though deaf to the ear,
'Twill make it acutely and constantly hear.
But, in short, let it rest like a beautiful flower;
Oh, breathe on it softly, it dies in an hour.

[MHaji]

"Because it can produce a few notes, tho they are very flat; and it is nevar put with the wrong end in front!"

Huh! I've heard that one, but never attributed to Carroll. I prefer the simple, "Poe wrote on both."

I won't answer Eden's second, because I've heard it, and it's one of the greatest riddles ever - not for its concept and answer, but for the sheer brilliance of the wordplay. It's over 200 years old, I believe.

Here's one that I love:

My first in my third is most awful at sea,
But many survive it, and so, then, may we.
My third in my first is the voice of the wood,
And type of all things that are noble and good.
You ask for my second? I've mentioned it twice;
In these very lines you will meet with it thrice.

[MHaji]

Requests like these, long as they may be,
Stop just short of common courtesy.

- Dorothy Sayers

[Hippie]

Why is a Raven like a writing desk?

yeah try to figure that on out.

Actually.. The answer to this riddle is there is no real answer. He created this riddle to make people think. He knew people would come up with ridiculous answers that seem like they could be right.. but in the end are all wrong. Peple think just because its a riddle there should be an answer, but in the end, there is no real answer.

[saturnschild]

A man pushes his car to a hotel to find that he is bankrupted. Why is that?

[Hippie]

A man pushes his car to a hotel to find that he is bankrupted. Why is that?

He was playing monopoly!!!

[Hippie]

One word in this sentence is misspelled. What is it?

[Tatterdemalion]

One word in this sentence is misspelled. What is it?

"Misspelled?"

Here's an ancient one from Finland, roughly translated:
"Old hag, twinkly-eyed, roams from home to home begging for a light, while from beneath her black hem peek out a thief and a lover."

[MHaji]

"Old hag, twinkly-eyed, roams from home to home begging for a light, while from beneath her black hem peek out a thief and a lover."

My instinct is to say "nightfall." The nightfall rides across the land from east to west as the sun sets, its eyes the twinkling stars. The lamps and candles of houses light up in its wake, thieves poach, lovers make their assignations.

But this seems overcomplicated.

[Rider of Wind]

This is a classic:

What crawls on four legs in the morning, two in the afternoon and three in the evening?

[Tatterdemalion]

But this seems overcomplicated.

Actually, you're quite right: nightfall is the correct answer.

[Hippie]

This is a classic:

What crawls on four legs in the morning, two in the afternoon and three in the evening?

Man

[Rider of Wind]

Man

Yep ^_^ It's the question the sphinx asks.

[Nadir]

Actually.. The answer to this riddle is there is no real answer. He created this riddle to make people think. He knew people would come up with ridiculous answers that seem like they could be right.. but in the end are all wrong. Peple think just because its a riddle there should be an answer, but in the end, there is no real answer.

But he did answer it. See my previous post.

[saturnschild]

Six glasses are in a row.
The first three are full of juice; the second three are empty.
By moving only one glass,
can you arrange them so empty and full glasses alternate?

[MusicNeverDies]

Six glasses are in a row.
The first three are full of juice; the second three are empty.
By moving only one glass,
can you arrange them so empty and full glasses alternate?

Lift the second glass and pour the contents into the 5th glass, then put the empty second glass back in place.

[saturnschild]

Bingo

[Duncan]

Young I am tall , Old I am short what am I?

[MusicNeverDies]

Young I am tall , Old I am short what am I?

DNA and candles come to mind.

[Duncan]

candles it is love.