What has hands and has no fingers?
Reveal the answer(s).Comments: From Folk-Lore from Elizabeth City County, Virginia by Elsie Clews Parsons. See Riddle 25 for something similar.
Wednesday, January 18, 2023
Wednesday, January 11, 2023
Riddle 25. Something has two hands...
Something has two hands but doesn't wash his face.
Reveal the answer(s).Comments: From Folklore of the Sea Islands by Elsie Clews Parsons.
Riddle 24. Spell water...
Spell water with just three letters.
Reveal the answer(s).Comments: From Folklore of the Sea Islands by Elsie Clews Parsons.
Riddle 23. Once I was going to London...
Once I was going to London, I met somebody standing, cut his throat and suck his blood, and leave his body standing.
Reveal the answer(s).Comments: From Folklore of the Sea Islands by Elsie Clews Parsons. She also reports this variant: "Once I was walking down a road and met a man; I shook his hand and drank his blood."
Riddle 22. Once I was walking down a road...
Once I was walking down a road and met a man; I shook his hand and drank his blood.
Reveal the answer(s).Comments: From Folklore of the Sea Islands by Elsie Clews Parsons. She also reports this variant: "Back in the road I met an old man; the more I shake his hand, the more he bleed." For a similar proverb, see Riddle 17.
Riddle 21. Feather it have...
Feather it have and cannot fly; feet it have and cannot walk.
Reveal the answer(s).Comments: From Folklore of the Sea Islands by Elsie Clews Parsons.
Monday, January 9, 2023
Riddle 20. Has teeth...
Has teeth but can't eat.
Reveal the answer(s).Comments: From Folk-Lore from Elizabeth City County, Virginia by Elsie Clews Parsons.
Riddle 19. Little red house...
Little red house, with white fence all round it; door keeps opening and shutting.
Reveal the answer(s).Comments: From Folk-Lore from Elizabeth City County, Virginia by Elsie Clews Parsons.
Riddle 18. In the water, on top of the water...
In the water, on top of the water, out of the water, back again in the water, but doesn't touch the water.
Reveal the answer(s).Comments: From Folk-Lore from Elizabeth City County, Virginia by Elsie Clews Parsons.
Riddle 17. Up and down...
Up and down, up and down; never touches the sky nor ground.
Reveal the answer(s).Comments: From Folk-Lore from Elizabeth City County, Virginia by Elsie Clews Parsons. If you have indoor plumbing, the water-pump is not part of your daily life, but there are a lot of proverbs about pumps because for people who get their water that way, it is an object of great interest. For a similar item, see Riddle 22.
Riddle 16. There was a hunter went shooting...
There was a hunter went shooting, and he saw three birds passing. He shot one. How many remain?
Reveal the answer(s).Comments: From Folklore from Antigua by John H. Johnson.
Riddle 15. There was a man on earth...
There was a man on earth: he had no dwelling-place there, nor in heaven nor in hell; tell me where that man did dwell.
Reveal the answer(s).Comments: From Folklore from Antigua by John H. Johnson.
Riddle 14. Where was the rooster...
Where was the rooster that crowed so everybody in the world could hear him?
Reveal the answer(s).Comments: From Folklore from Antigua by John H. Johnson.
Riddle 13. What is it that we love more than life...
What is it that we love more than life, fear more than death; the rich want it, the poor have it, the miser spends it, and the spendthrift saves it?
Reveal the answer(s).Comments: From Folklore from Antigua by John H. Johnson.
Riddle 12. What kind of hen...
What kind of hen lay the longest?
Reveal the answer(s).Comments: From Folklore from Eleuthera, Bahamas by H. H. Finlay.
Riddle 11. My father have seven fruit trees...
My father have seven fruit trees, and yet he can't eat any.
Reveal the answer(s).Comments: From Folklore from Eleuthera, Bahamas by H. H. Finlay.
Saturday, January 7, 2023
Riddle 10. I know a man...
I know a man who shaves twenty times a day.
Reveal the answer(s).Comments: From Folklore of the Sea Islands by Elsie Clews Parsons.
Riddle 9. It's in the church...
It's in the church, but not in the steeple; it's in the parson, but not in the people.
Reveal the answer(s).Comments: From Folklore from Antigua by John H. Johnson. For another riddle like this one, see Riddle 8.
Riddle 8. What is that you can see once in a minute...
What is that you can see once in a minute, twice in a moment, and you wouldn't find it again in a thousand years?
Reveal the answer(s).Comments: From Folklore from Antigua by John H. Johnson. For another riddle like this one, see Riddle 9.
Riddle 7. They eat my flesh...
They eat my flesh and drink my blood and throw away my bones.
Reveal the answer(s).Comments: From Folklore from Antigua by John H. Johnson.
Riddle 6. Four feet sitting in four feet...
Four feet sitting in four feet waiting for four feet.
Reveal the answer(s).Comments: From Folklore from Eleuthera, Bahamas by H. H. Finlay.
Riddle 5. Little Nancy Etticoat...
Little Nancy Etticoat in a white petticoat has a red nose; the longer she stands, the shorter she grows.
Reveal the answer(s).Comments: From Folklore from Aiken, South Carolina by Elsie Clews Parsons.
Riddle 4. My father has a rooster...
My father has a rooster; every time it crows, it crows fire.
Reveal the answer(s).Comments: From Riddles and Proverbs from the Bahama Islands by Elsie Clews Parsons. For another riddle like this one, see Riddle 2.
Riddle 3. Has eyes and can't see...
Has eyes and can't see, has tongue and can't talk, has soul and can't be saved.
Reveal the answer(s).Comments: From Folklore from Aiken, South Carolina by Elsie Clews Parsons.
Riddle 2. Something barks here...
Something barks here, and bites yonder.
Reveal the answer(s).Comments: From Folklore of the Sea Islands by Elsie Clews Parsons. For another riddle like this one, see Riddle 4.
Riddle 1. Can holler...
Can holler, but can't talk.
Reveal the answer(s).Comments: From Folk-Lore from Elizabeth City County, Virginia by Elsie Clews Parsons. A similar riddle from this same source: "Can run, but can't walk."
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