Riddles and mindtricks have played a great part in many mythologies, the most famous being the riddle of the Sphinx (pictured above) in the story of Oedipus Rex. The following are riddles that I wrote. The answers are posted at the very bottom of this page. Please enjoy!
1 When he is young he’s as strong as an ox When he is old he’s as tight as a box When he is big he’s as great as a fire When he is small he’s as smug as a liar He’s the scourge of so many but they love him so much That they can't help but rally at the brush of his touch
2 You built your home upon my skirt With my blood you quenched your thirst In great haste You crossed my waste And braved my stormy ire
But now it’s you I wish to kill Your homes, your fields, your lands I’ll fill Your mountains and dens I’ll fill and I’ll rend With the darkest unstoppable fire!
3 My pa’s pa has a face full of warts And big black whiskers that move when he snorts All day long the silence he rends For his life is timed, but the time never ends I hear him all over; in my house, in my head So as he mumbles and grumbles I count ‘til he's dead.
4 When darkness came I hid your face I held your head with fingers like lace When darkness came I hid your arm I held your hips with legs like yarn When darkness came I hid your pelt I held your legs with arms like felt But then with light the dark was slain Though I begged, you left, and never stayed Until the darkness came again
5 I sang for the night I sang for the trees I sang for the grass The buds The bees I sang for the moon I sang for the sky But for you I will not sing Until you have passed by I sang for the moon I sang for the sky But for dawn I will not sing Until it dies
6 Many rooms it has All of yellow or brown or white Large spacious rooms it has But not one tenet in sight Not one box or board or wall or bed Not one cupboard or drawer or leafy head Yet with it so many people are fed
7 Without veins Holds water Without legs Holds feet Without skin Is cut Without flesh Is beat Has no food From it foods spread Has no hands Yet it holds our dead
8 You give me power Which I can’t apply So when I grow To bed you go Where with you I’ll lie
9 You stuck a knife into my side You ate my innards in a pie You gave a mouth with nose and eye But no words I say, no tears I cry
10 It steals from you your list It steals from you your fame It steals from you your precious things It may even steal your name It may steal away your thoughts, your mind Your car, your home, your key It steals away to where it feasts Upon your memory
11 From the river at night rise the Silverback Horses Crawling from streams and other flowing forces In darkness they are not seen on their courses But when the sun rises they stand above their sources These Silverback Horses These grey colored beasts They huddle in their rows until the dawn's cool has ceased They move like cautious deer in a forest decreased They require no food and no barley or yeast These Silverback Horses know no master or friend They stand in their places for hours on end But when their lifetimes has come to its close They let go and disappear like the crows But while Silverback Horses stand in their spots Any rider walking between them will find himself lost