Riddle 301
Twigs but no roots
leaves but no shoots;
Faring forever
over the sand.
Filmmakers love me
but ranchers, they hate me.
I came here from Russia
isn't life grand?
A tumbleweed (known as Russian Thistle).
Riddle 302
Gold in a leather bag, swinging on a tree,
Money after honey in its time.
Ills of a scurvy crew cured by the sea,
Reason in its season but no rhyme.
An orange. The "sea" in the third line is a pun on vitamin C, which cures scurvy. Orange is one of two common words in English with no rhyme (the other is 'silver').
Riddle 303
I march before armies,
a thousand salute me;
My fall can bring victory,
but no one would shoot me;
The wind is my lover,
one-legged am I;
Name me and see me
at home in the sky.
A flag
Riddle 304
Wings on the water / wonder in motion,
A beak of brass / apt for brawling.
But fear and foulness / fill my belly,
Pity all / who ache inside me;
Whip-stung, woeful / weak and weary.
A slave galley (In classical poetry the oars of a galley, moving in unison, were often likened to wings.)
Riddle 305
It roars like thunder,
And rises higher,
While breathing fire,
This wingless wonder.
If it leaves its cave,
Drags us in its tail,
Over hill and dale,
Then you must be brave.
Early morning flight,
Silently it flies,
Slowly in the skies.
Hides before the night.
My kingdom at least,
To the brave young knight,
If you name it right.
What is this huge beast?
A hot-air balloon
Riddle 306
A hundred brothers lie next to each other;
Each white and fine - they've only one spine.
I am the tongue that lies between two.
Remove me to gather their wisdom to you.
A bookmark (between pages)
Riddle 307
I have split the one into five.
I am the circle that few will spy.
I am the path that breaks and gives.
I am the bow no man may bend.
A rainbow
Riddle 308
I'm that which is seen only in darkness,
Swiftest of all, and near as old as time;
Day's distant brother; fire and faintness,
I light without shadow -- can you solve this rhyme?
Starlight
Riddle 309
Oak and hazel are my aunts,
though I am not their kin.
My cousin grows in pod on vine;
I often have a twin.
My shape is like the sands of time
contained within a glass.
I have no legs, instead a shell;
I dwell beneath the grass.
A peanut
Riddle 310
What row of numbers comes next?
1
11
21
1211
111221
312211
13112221
Next row is 1113213211
Starting with the second line, every ine describes the line before it. In writing, it is:
One One (11)
Two Ones (21)
One Two,One One (1211)
etc.
Riddle 311
A woman has 7 children, half of them are boys. How can this be possible?
All of the children are boys, so 1/2 half are boys and so is the other half.
Riddle 312
A farmer and his hired help were carrying grain to the barn. The farmer carried one sack of grain and the hired help carried two sacks. Who carried the heavier load and why?
The farmer's load was heavier. His hired help only carried two sacks, while the farmer carries one sack, but his sack is a sack full of grain. The hired help only carried 2 sacks - both empty.
Riddle 313
George, Helen, and Steve are drinking ale.
Bert, Karen, and Dave are drinking water.
Using logic, is Elizabeth drinking ale or water?
Elizabeth is drinking ale. The letter E appears twice in her name, as it does in the names of the others that are drinking ale.
Riddle 314
What kind of cheese is made backwards?
Edam (M-A-D-E spelled backwards)
Riddle 315
There is a common English word that is 9 letters long. Each time you remove a letter from it, it still remains an English word - from nine letters right down to a single letter. What is the original word, and what are the words that it becomes after removing one letter at a time?
Startling
starting
staring
string
sting
sing
sin
in
I
Riddle 316
There is a common English word that is 7 letters long. Each time you remove a letter from it, it still remains an English word - from nine letters right down to a single letter. What is the original word, and what are the words that it becomes after removing one letter at a time?
Answer 1:
snowing
sowing
swing
sing
sin
in
I
Answer 2:
staring
string
sting
sing
sin
in
I
Riddle 317
I am the black child of a white father;
A wingless bird, flying even to the clouds of heaven.
I give birth to tears of mourning in pupils that meet me,
and at once on my birth I am dissolved into air.
Smoke
Riddle 318
What we caught we threw away;
what we didn't catch, we kept.
Lice (the riddle put to Homer by fishermen of Ios)
Riddle 319
My sides are firmly lac'd about,
Yet nothing is within;
You'll think my head is strange indeed,
Being nothing else but skin.
A drum
Riddle 320
My first displays the wealth and pomp of kings,
Lords of the earth! their luxury and ease.
Another view of man, my second brings,
Behold him there, the monarch of the seas!
But ah! united what reverse we have!
Man's boasted power and freedom, all are flown:
Lord of the earth and sea, he bends a slave,
And woman, lovely woman, reigns alone.
Thy ready wit the word will soon supply,
May its approval beam in that soft eye!
Courtship
