Simple Riddles ( ^ o ^)
1) Ebon shell quite a statement makes —
Light it emits and earth it shakes!
2) Love is patient, love is kind,
But it’s often hard to find.
Love is solid, love is fun;
How is it that four makes one?
3) Purveyors of information you encounter,
Yet nothing is their fee.
Mysterious their provenance,
Though trusted, as all can see.
4) Weakness uproots me not,
Though even the strong dare not try.
Life to some, death to others,
Please strive to keep me dry.
5) With fire of power are two-dozen lit;
Upon rings enciphered they glow.
Sealed path now shown, beyond truth’s gaze in stone,
Into death and shadows below.
6) A massive rock, a giant face
Rings in fire will help to displace.
7) Extend, contract from place to place,
Secret boon of a ghostly race.
8) An emerald tome of secrets and lore;
Its verses wrought greed and, thereafter, war.
9) From arm to the air, just watch this bug go,
As it picks up things and drops them below!
10) Awakening, a fey flight,
And the tools of a Hero.
A troubled past, and curse of stone,
Travel into darkness.
Death of innocence, birth of destiny,
A marred victory, Repose.
11) Empty beings endowed will where absent before —
Mass moved, arbiter’s foes destroyed.
A relic most ancient, its import told in lore,
Yet seldom it’s ever employed.
12) While seeking the sky it never shall see,
A rotten horror of evil and death
Waits just underneath, grinning viciously,
To choke its prey to the very last breath.
13) A perfect bodyguard, dying never,
And a sight to behold, indeed,
Whose service burdens any endeavor
Lest fed by insatiable greed.
14) All at once, or not at all,
Twisted innocence held in thrall.
Descent from on high in bounds complete,
A sacred beast can spell defeat.
15) An implacable adversary —
Stern, yet mild.
Mind of man
In the form of a child.
16) Journey under eaves and bough,
A far place you will come to know.
Through valley, through pool, spirits walk on the breeze;
A tryst and a parting, in the shadow of trees.
17) A dire choice,
And exodus,
Not easy was the fate.
A trust in God,
And providence,
By this the land was saved.
18) A cowardly fellow, yet an ally most dear;
From near yet far he hails to aid your efforts here.
Who’s under there? Beneath that cloak of violet hare,
He who makes room in yours to hawk many a ware?
19) Small treasures I find in the strangest of places —
In pots, bushes, and even under stone!
Who could have put them there, of all the land’s races?
Perhaps in youth would I have known . . .
20) A Coleridgean Journey, a tempest and wreck,
Though no albatross as burden of sin.
Where once it was, now not a speck:
Only guilt and memory therein.
21) A shape aloft,
And sword below;
Two wings aside,
What do I show?
22) A shell of a home,
Both high and cold,
At last is warmed by the fire.
A broken stair,
And vast disrepair,
Made home at last by desire.
23) Inside of a mushroom, or tucked in a shoe,
A tiny bed, hearth, and a working bench, too;
Placers of items — gems, health, and food,
To belittle their size does seem quite rude.
24) At farthest reach,
A being rests
Who waits to teach
Our mortal chests.
A boon it grants
In darkened rain;
A risk to chance
For loss or gain.
Life and power
Are its dealing;
In needful hour
Your future sealing.
25) From three came a fourth,
But then there was one,
Whose labors, in blood,
May never be done.
26) Life and mystery, and both in excess;
Inside and out cartographic distress!
A spiriting away, should one digress;
The question of where is anyone's guess.
27) A western, barren land —
A way engraved in sand;
Feminine form, a martial pose,
This sisterhood an altar shows.
28) Separate from the pack
And the means to attack;
Skill forgot, a missing sigil —
Frozen heights conceal her vigil.
29) Much like a horse —
Less tall, of course;
Two limbs and a tail,
Fangs like a nail.
Dragging chest
With soaring crest;
A bushy 'stache
And quick to dash.
At every sound
It looks around.
In streams of wind
It will not bend.
In waters dry,
You'll hear its cry.
30) Beings in walls, deep in a cave,
Accepting of stones, your friendship they crave.
These circles rent with varied shape,
Without a pair, they're left agape.
31) Made in stone and meant to last,
Mem'ries of an unknown past:
Decrepit soldiers far from rare
Guard most ancient Place of Prayer.
This site of lore with skill was made;
Now all is ruined and decayed.
32) Trapped both in mind and in form,
A savior arrives in a storm;
A god to wake eight instruments takes,
Releasing an island once warm.
33) All as one, yours to borrow:
Hope, fear, love, rage, life, and sorrow.
A final task at the end of days,
The time has come. Are you ready to play?
34) This rainbow of value
Sets the world a-turn,
So waste not what you find,
For far less can you earn.
35) In spring atop the fertile mound,
Upon the blossom-coated ground,
Reincarnate sage is found —
Vibrant coat and laurel-crowned.
36) On peak of prosperity built,
Towering over the land,
Engulfed in autumn fire's gilt:
The Kingdom's final stand.
37) In hidden cove
Where land is wove,
Play royal verse
And falls disperse.
38) Twitching, rustling, crawling . . .
Moving, never going . . .
Only nighttime showing . . .
Golden treasure calling.
39) Set high upon a hill,
Or hiding under stone;
One hundred is a taste —
Nine hundred shows your will.
You'll soon begin to groan
Beneath the growing waste.
40) Famous craftsman and sage,
By your own pupil betrayed.
Both shrinking and growing,
A Hero's heart showing,
Before the Gate seals for an Age.
41) Red or blue is yours to choose,
Created from a wiggling ooze;
Within the woods we make our lair,
Our faces foul, our prices fair!
42) Wrested from a place of air,
Breaking cloud and sand —
A low-born tool, this bristly pair,
To scrape beneath the land.
43) With realm and people petrified,
Their faces frozen, terrified,
And crowned by crimson regicide,
Land's life-stream ice-bound, ossified.
A Hero gains the mountainside,
To find his hope and task defied;
Yet tool he finds of alloy plied,
And flame to leave fire liquefied.
44) In the hills we oft hang out,
A thieving, red-nosed stack.
We only tread where we can scout,
And spinelessly attack.
45) A turquoise flame
in copper frame;
A gift of greed
in time of need;
A helpful aid
in soulful trade;
A Hero’s tool
to catch a ghoul;
A guiding light
in day or night;
A final one,
and flame is done.
46) From flaming peak to sandy sea —
In blooming well, you seek all three.
When forged within their sacred blaze,
The Sword shall purge all evil ways.
47) Backbone of Hyrule,
Travels all quarters;
No guise can befool
This Prince of the Porters;
Himself he will addle,
Then sing and skedaddle.
48) Heavens above, interred below.
Through shattered seal, enter.
Cataclysmic battle finish,
At the kingdom’s center.
49) Joyous and playful, a daylight delight;
Violent and dreadful, a midnight fright!
Forever in flux, caught in suspension
Till the hour of demonic redemption.
50) From humblest of start
To blackest of art,
A servant of light
Mastered evil's might.
Unseen and so small,
Now that which sees all.
Sealed away by four
Who is one once more.
Forgotten never,
Returning ever.
51) “Sad child in darkness who yearns for the light,
to you, whom no one can follow:
A guardian friend to set things aright —
familiar, yet heartless and hollow.”
52) A creature once taken is given in trust,
A being quite foreign in source.
No amount of its name will render it hoarse;
Its diet will leave you nonplussed.
53) Back and forth rocking,
Here and there talking.
In you he'll confide . . .
But not side by side.
54) No matter the depth of your visit,
Your progress is always effaced;
Time’s protection you’ll gain —
Ev’ry move ‘gainst the grain —
Ending war between two kings debased.
55) Fauna or flora?
Or something between?
They’re timid and skittish —
But easily seen.
56) Courage is shattered in pieces anew;
Hero needs travel the reach of the land;
Artist must cipher illegible hand —
Records of creatures and specks in the blue.
Traces forgotten once known to the wise,
Salvaged and reintroduced to the skies.
57) Kaleidoscopic flower, or psychedelic weed?
As hydra loses hue, it gains yet greater speed.
58) When floats away, at last released,
It disappears to raise deceased.
59) A token of friendship for when we’re apart,
Both mem’ry and melody played from the heart;
Affinities youthful once conjured from sound,
Forgotten instead for another one found.
60) A polished stone that sits on high
Hides inner self from outward eye;
A magic bound in carmine hue
Grants humors false instead of true.
61) We all of us are present,
But where is our last guide?
With Light and Fire and Spirit,
Why’s Shadow been denied?
62) A gate of stone,
I sit alone.
Alive, yet not,
I must be fought.
I’ve waited long
To hear your song.
So give me breath,
And taste your death.
63) Use flame to tame the glow of snow,
And tool to fuel a trail ice-pale;
You force a course to sound profound,
And bells toll knells to bless success.
64) They’re hidden and old, both tiny and smart,
These Guards by Guardians sent;
In chairs they’re bound but they still get around,
To reseal a land that was rent.
65) You quest-
ion my o- such high
utfit, do office. You
you? We- dare to m-
ll, this is n- ake fun of
ormal for one of my haberdasher!?
66) A system of veins
On the body divine;
A seal on all banes
Once our paths realign.
67) The past is present,
The future now.
Play these strings,
And time shall bow.
68) This item’s inlay
Is a godly cachet.
To heaven they flee,
These two dozen and three.
69) In darkness darker than darkest night,
Shrouded guides shall guide with light.
70) Sown and sealed within the past,
In ray-soaked earth, to ages last;
Its golden flesh and seeded womb
Saves tempest measure from the tomb.
71) This for that, and tit-for-tat,
A bargain, a barter, a trade;
Travel, collect, a swapping crusade,
See what this junk’s valued at?!
72) Niter, my scent,
Twisted, my name;
With careening descent,
Exploding’s my game!
73) Oh, small betrayed, your home mislaid!
By friend waylaid, who form unmade!
Your quest delayed, and heart dismayed!
Though you have strayed through unknown glade,
With bond of trade, my notes pervade:
All forms remade, all evils fade.
74) When the third erupts in faded light,
The lands and the people will know suffering.
One by shadow, begun in slavery;
One in darkness, drowning order;
The last secured by wisdom’s loss —
And true evil shall be born in blood.
75) Cast by fire, earth’s gamble thrown:
A rocky game of chance —
From pip to eyot, we hold the cay
To greater happenstance.
76) In song,
We mirror you,
And leap in gratitude.
Submerged, we wait, we watch, we hope
For rain.
77) Brightening, nurturing
Soothing, blowing
Enriching, quickening
Changing, flowing
78) Human-made,
Maiden-given;
Goddess-seamed,
Seem a Hero.
79) I am the one that got away:
I’m carried, never thrown.
Know: cleanliness is godliness;
I’m enemy to sloppiness!
My art is rather obvious —
Maybe slightly overblown . . .
80) I track the phantom iron-horse;
My bearings spot its sooty source.
81) Doubled once,
Doubled twice:
A tetrad linked
As one we slice!
82) What a group of classy brutes,
Dancing round in four-piece suits,
Skill and chance are in cahoots.
83) My glow stands for dough,
Cash gone in a flash;
Try'n to shoot me to loot me
While spammin' for Mammon;
Though my bond to money is funny,
All of my coin you'll never purloin.
84) Scene: Two oldsters gammin’ over a pint:
“Have’e seen ‘em,
Crawlin’, searchin’, flyin’?
Some’re half-buried, like old potsherds,
But eyes always watchin’ . . .
Look all new, yet mighty ancient:
All moss’n metal — grime’n gears!
Ain’t nothin’ what can take ‘em out, seems,
And what’re they even guardin’?”
85) Appears at night, departs at dawn;
A rattling sound from a burial mound;
A threat to none, a fright to all;
Reborn from the ground, it still roams around.
1) Ebon shell quite a statement makes —
Light it emits and earth it shakes!
2) Love is patient, love is kind,
But it’s often hard to find.
Love is solid, love is fun;
How is it that four makes one?
3) Purveyors of information you encounter,
Yet nothing is their fee.
Mysterious their provenance,
Though trusted, as all can see.
4) Weakness uproots me not,
Though even the strong dare not try.
Life to some, death to others,
Please strive to keep me dry.
5) With fire of power are two-dozen lit;
Upon rings enciphered they glow.
Sealed path now shown, beyond truth’s gaze in stone,
Into death and shadows below.
6) A massive rock, a giant face
Rings in fire will help to displace.
7) Extend, contract from place to place,
Secret boon of a ghostly race.
8) An emerald tome of secrets and lore;
Its verses wrought greed and, thereafter, war.
9) From arm to the air, just watch this bug go,
As it picks up things and drops them below!
10) Awakening, a fey flight,
And the tools of a Hero.
A troubled past, and curse of stone,
Travel into darkness.
Death of innocence, birth of destiny,
A marred victory, Repose.
11) Empty beings endowed will where absent before —
Mass moved, arbiter’s foes destroyed.
A relic most ancient, its import told in lore,
Yet seldom it’s ever employed.
12) While seeking the sky it never shall see,
A rotten horror of evil and death
Waits just underneath, grinning viciously,
To choke its prey to the very last breath.
13) A perfect bodyguard, dying never,
And a sight to behold, indeed,
Whose service burdens any endeavor
Lest fed by insatiable greed.
14) All at once, or not at all,
Twisted innocence held in thrall.
Descent from on high in bounds complete,
A sacred beast can spell defeat.
15) An implacable adversary —
Stern, yet mild.
Mind of man
In the form of a child.
16) Journey under eaves and bough,
A far place you will come to know.
Through valley, through pool, spirits walk on the breeze;
A tryst and a parting, in the shadow of trees.
17) A dire choice,
And exodus,
Not easy was the fate.
A trust in God,
And providence,
By this the land was saved.
18) A cowardly fellow, yet an ally most dear;
From near yet far he hails to aid your efforts here.
Who’s under there? Beneath that cloak of violet hare,
He who makes room in yours to hawk many a ware?
19) Small treasures I find in the strangest of places —
In pots, bushes, and even under stone!
Who could have put them there, of all the land’s races?
Perhaps in youth would I have known . . .
20) A Coleridgean Journey, a tempest and wreck,
Though no albatross as burden of sin.
Where once it was, now not a speck:
Only guilt and memory therein.
21) A shape aloft,
And sword below;
Two wings aside,
What do I show?
22) A shell of a home,
Both high and cold,
At last is warmed by the fire.
A broken stair,
And vast disrepair,
Made home at last by desire.
23) Inside of a mushroom, or tucked in a shoe,
A tiny bed, hearth, and a working bench, too;
Placers of items — gems, health, and food,
To belittle their size does seem quite rude.
24) At farthest reach,
A being rests
Who waits to teach
Our mortal chests.
A boon it grants
In darkened rain;
A risk to chance
For loss or gain.
Life and power
Are its dealing;
In needful hour
Your future sealing.
25) From three came a fourth,
But then there was one,
Whose labors, in blood,
May never be done.
26) Life and mystery, and both in excess;
Inside and out cartographic distress!
A spiriting away, should one digress;
The question of where is anyone's guess.
27) A western, barren land —
A way engraved in sand;
Feminine form, a martial pose,
This sisterhood an altar shows.
28) Separate from the pack
And the means to attack;
Skill forgot, a missing sigil —
Frozen heights conceal her vigil.
29) Much like a horse —
Less tall, of course;
Two limbs and a tail,
Fangs like a nail.
Dragging chest
With soaring crest;
A bushy 'stache
And quick to dash.
At every sound
It looks around.
In streams of wind
It will not bend.
In waters dry,
You'll hear its cry.
30) Beings in walls, deep in a cave,
Accepting of stones, your friendship they crave.
These circles rent with varied shape,
Without a pair, they're left agape.
31) Made in stone and meant to last,
Mem'ries of an unknown past:
Decrepit soldiers far from rare
Guard most ancient Place of Prayer.
This site of lore with skill was made;
Now all is ruined and decayed.
32) Trapped both in mind and in form,
A savior arrives in a storm;
A god to wake eight instruments takes,
Releasing an island once warm.
33) All as one, yours to borrow:
Hope, fear, love, rage, life, and sorrow.
A final task at the end of days,
The time has come. Are you ready to play?
34) This rainbow of value
Sets the world a-turn,
So waste not what you find,
For far less can you earn.
35) In spring atop the fertile mound,
Upon the blossom-coated ground,
Reincarnate sage is found —
Vibrant coat and laurel-crowned.
36) On peak of prosperity built,
Towering over the land,
Engulfed in autumn fire's gilt:
The Kingdom's final stand.
37) In hidden cove
Where land is wove,
Play royal verse
And falls disperse.
38) Twitching, rustling, crawling . . .
Moving, never going . . .
Only nighttime showing . . .
Golden treasure calling.
39) Set high upon a hill,
Or hiding under stone;
One hundred is a taste —
Nine hundred shows your will.
You'll soon begin to groan
Beneath the growing waste.
40) Famous craftsman and sage,
By your own pupil betrayed.
Both shrinking and growing,
A Hero's heart showing,
Before the Gate seals for an Age.
41) Red or blue is yours to choose,
Created from a wiggling ooze;
Within the woods we make our lair,
Our faces foul, our prices fair!
42) Wrested from a place of air,
Breaking cloud and sand —
A low-born tool, this bristly pair,
To scrape beneath the land.
43) With realm and people petrified,
Their faces frozen, terrified,
And crowned by crimson regicide,
Land's life-stream ice-bound, ossified.
A Hero gains the mountainside,
To find his hope and task defied;
Yet tool he finds of alloy plied,
And flame to leave fire liquefied.
44) In the hills we oft hang out,
A thieving, red-nosed stack.
We only tread where we can scout,
And spinelessly attack.
45) A turquoise flame
in copper frame;
A gift of greed
in time of need;
A helpful aid
in soulful trade;
A Hero’s tool
to catch a ghoul;
A guiding light
in day or night;
A final one,
and flame is done.
46) From flaming peak to sandy sea —
In blooming well, you seek all three.
When forged within their sacred blaze,
The Sword shall purge all evil ways.
47) Backbone of Hyrule,
Travels all quarters;
No guise can befool
This Prince of the Porters;
Himself he will addle,
Then sing and skedaddle.
48) Heavens above, interred below.
Through shattered seal, enter.
Cataclysmic battle finish,
At the kingdom’s center.
49) Joyous and playful, a daylight delight;
Violent and dreadful, a midnight fright!
Forever in flux, caught in suspension
Till the hour of demonic redemption.
50) From humblest of start
To blackest of art,
A servant of light
Mastered evil's might.
Unseen and so small,
Now that which sees all.
Sealed away by four
Who is one once more.
Forgotten never,
Returning ever.
51) “Sad child in darkness who yearns for the light,
to you, whom no one can follow:
A guardian friend to set things aright —
familiar, yet heartless and hollow.”
52) A creature once taken is given in trust,
A being quite foreign in source.
No amount of its name will render it hoarse;
Its diet will leave you nonplussed.
53) Back and forth rocking,
Here and there talking.
In you he'll confide . . .
But not side by side.
54) No matter the depth of your visit,
Your progress is always effaced;
Time’s protection you’ll gain —
Ev’ry move ‘gainst the grain —
Ending war between two kings debased.
55) Fauna or flora?
Or something between?
They’re timid and skittish —
But easily seen.
56) Courage is shattered in pieces anew;
Hero needs travel the reach of the land;
Artist must cipher illegible hand —
Records of creatures and specks in the blue.
Traces forgotten once known to the wise,
Salvaged and reintroduced to the skies.
57) Kaleidoscopic flower, or psychedelic weed?
As hydra loses hue, it gains yet greater speed.
58) When floats away, at last released,
It disappears to raise deceased.
59) A token of friendship for when we’re apart,
Both mem’ry and melody played from the heart;
Affinities youthful once conjured from sound,
Forgotten instead for another one found.
60) A polished stone that sits on high
Hides inner self from outward eye;
A magic bound in carmine hue
Grants humors false instead of true.
61) We all of us are present,
But where is our last guide?
With Light and Fire and Spirit,
Why’s Shadow been denied?
62) A gate of stone,
I sit alone.
Alive, yet not,
I must be fought.
I’ve waited long
To hear your song.
So give me breath,
And taste your death.
63) Use flame to tame the glow of snow,
And tool to fuel a trail ice-pale;
You force a course to sound profound,
And bells toll knells to bless success.
64) They’re hidden and old, both tiny and smart,
These Guards by Guardians sent;
In chairs they’re bound but they still get around,
To reseal a land that was rent.
65) You quest-
ion my o- such high
utfit, do office. You
you? We- dare to m-
ll, this is n- ake fun of
ormal for one of my haberdasher!?
66) A system of veins
On the body divine;
A seal on all banes
Once our paths realign.
67) The past is present,
The future now.
Play these strings,
And time shall bow.
68) This item’s inlay
Is a godly cachet.
To heaven they flee,
These two dozen and three.
69) In darkness darker than darkest night,
Shrouded guides shall guide with light.
70) Sown and sealed within the past,
In ray-soaked earth, to ages last;
Its golden flesh and seeded womb
Saves tempest measure from the tomb.
71) This for that, and tit-for-tat,
A bargain, a barter, a trade;
Travel, collect, a swapping crusade,
See what this junk’s valued at?!
72) Niter, my scent,
Twisted, my name;
With careening descent,
Exploding’s my game!
73) Oh, small betrayed, your home mislaid!
By friend waylaid, who form unmade!
Your quest delayed, and heart dismayed!
Though you have strayed through unknown glade,
With bond of trade, my notes pervade:
All forms remade, all evils fade.
74) When the third erupts in faded light,
The lands and the people will know suffering.
One by shadow, begun in slavery;
One in darkness, drowning order;
The last secured by wisdom’s loss —
And true evil shall be born in blood.
75) Cast by fire, earth’s gamble thrown:
A rocky game of chance —
From pip to eyot, we hold the cay
To greater happenstance.
76) In song,
We mirror you,
And leap in gratitude.
Submerged, we wait, we watch, we hope
For rain.
77) Brightening, nurturing
Soothing, blowing
Enriching, quickening
Changing, flowing
78) Human-made,
Maiden-given;
Goddess-seamed,
Seem a Hero.
79) I am the one that got away:
I’m carried, never thrown.
Know: cleanliness is godliness;
I’m enemy to sloppiness!
My art is rather obvious —
Maybe slightly overblown . . .
80) I track the phantom iron-horse;
My bearings spot its sooty source.
81) Doubled once,
Doubled twice:
A tetrad linked
As one we slice!
82) What a group of classy brutes,
Dancing round in four-piece suits,
Skill and chance are in cahoots.
83) My glow stands for dough,
Cash gone in a flash;
Try'n to shoot me to loot me
While spammin' for Mammon;
Though my bond to money is funny,
All of my coin you'll never purloin.
84) Scene: Two oldsters gammin’ over a pint:
“Have’e seen ‘em,
Crawlin’, searchin’, flyin’?
Some’re half-buried, like old potsherds,
But eyes always watchin’ . . .
Look all new, yet mighty ancient:
All moss’n metal — grime’n gears!
Ain’t nothin’ what can take ‘em out, seems,
And what’re they even guardin’?”
85) Appears at night, departs at dawn;
A rattling sound from a burial mound;
A threat to none, a fright to all;
Reborn from the ground, it still roams around.