( )
Two brothers we are,
Greate burdens we bear,
On which we are bitterly pressed;
The truth is to say,
We are full all the day,
And empty when we go to rest.
Clean, but not water,
White, but not snow,
Sweet, but not ice-cream,
What is it?
I am the hall-upholder,
once crowned in green.
Answer: Pillar carved from a tree-trunk.
Alive without breath,
As cold as death;
Never thirsty, ever drinking,
All in mail, never clinking.
Answer: A fish.
No-legs lay on one-leg,
Two-legs sat near on three-legs,
four legs got some.
Answer: Fish on a little table, man at table sitting on a stool,
the cat ate the bones.
This thing all things devours:
Birds, trees, beasts, flowers;
Gnaws iron, bites steel;
Grinds hard stones to meal;
Slays king, ruins town,
And beats high mountain down.
Answer: Time.
I am the yellow hem
of the seas blue skirt.
Answer: Sand on a beach.
I am the red tongue of the Earth,
that buries cities.
Answer: Lava from a volcano.
The Moon is my father,
the Sea is my mother;
I have a million brothers,
I die when I reach land.
Answer: A wave on the ocean.
Thousands lay up gold within this house,
but no man made it.
Spears past counting guard this house,
but no man wards it.
Answer: A beehive. The spears are bee stings.
Swings by his thigh / a thing most magical!
Below the belt / beneath the folds
Of his clothes it hangs / a hole in its front end,
stiff-set and stout / it swivels about.
Levelling the head / of this hanging tool,
its wielder hoists his hem / above his knee;
it is his will to fill / a well-known hole
that it fits fully / when at full length
Hes oft filled it before. / Now he fills it again.
Answer: A key.
What has roots as nobody sees,
Is taller than trees,
Up, up it goes
And yet never grows?
Answer: A mountain.
Thirty white horses on a red hill,
First they champ,
Then they stamp,
Then they stand still.
Answer: Teeth in your mouth.
Voiceless it cries,
Wingless flutters,
Toothless bites,
Mouthless mutters.
Answer: The wind.
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.
Answer: Sun on a field of daisies.
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.
Answer: Darkness.
A box without hinges, key, or lid,
Yet golden treasure inside is hid.
Answer: An egg.
