Riddles

What is a riddle?

Riddles

The Anglo-Saxons loved riddles. They told each other riddles as well as listening to poems at their feasts. Some of the riddles were written down, so we are able to read them today.

RIDDLE ME THIS...

What has to be broken before you can use it?

Solution: An egg

RIDDLE ME THIS...

What begins with T, finishes with T, and has T in it?

Solution: A teapot.

Actual riddles used in the Anglo-Saxons time 

Riddle #1

Four dilly-dandies (teats on the udder)
Four stick standies (legs)
Two crookers (horns)
Two lookers (eyes)
And a wig wag (tail)

What do you think it is?

Answer: a cow 

 Riddle #2

When I am alive I do not speak
Anyone who wants to take me captive and cuts off my head
They bite my bare body
I do no harm to anyone unless they cut me first
Then I soon make them cry

What do you think it is?

Answer: an onion

Riddle #3: A creature and its home

My home is not quiet but I am not loud.
The lord has meant us to journey together.
I am faster than he and sometimes stronger,
But he keeps on going for longer.
Sometimes I rest but he runs on.
For as long as I am alive I live in him.
If we part from one another
It is I who will die.

What do you think it is?

Answer: a fish in a river

Riddle #4: There are lots of these in the story of Beowulf.

I am all on my own, wounded by iron weapons and scarred by swords.
I often see battle. I am tired of fighting.

I do not expect to be allowed to retire from warfare

Before I am completely done for.

At the wall of the city, I am knocked about and bitten again and again.
Hard edged things made by the blacksmith's hammer attack me.

Each time I wait for something worse.

I have never been able to find a doctor who could make me better

Or give me medicine made from herbs.
Instead the sword gashes all over me grow bigger day and night.

What do you think it is?

Answer: a shield

Write your own riddle

• Write your own riddle in English:
• 4 lines minimum
• Try to rhyme
• Must have an answer
• Alone or in pairs

Submit your riddle here.