Master Riddles

This thing all things devours

Birds, beasts, trees, flowers

Gnaws iron, bites steel,

Grinds hard stones to meal,

Slays king, ruins town,

And beats high mountain down!

"time"

 No sooner spoken than broken. What is it?

"silence"

 

I pass before the sun, yet make no shadow. What am I?"the wind"

 

If you break me I'll not stop working. If you can touch me, my work is done. What am I?

"a heart"

 

I have a hundred legs but cannot stand, a long neck but no head; I eat the maid's time. What am I?

"a broom"

 

Cannot be seen, cannot be felt, cannot be heard, cannot be smelt. It lies behind the stars and beneath the hills. Ends life and kills laughter. What is it?

"the dark"

 

What does no man want, yet no man want to lose?

"work (employment)"

 I have four wings, but cannot fly, I never laugh and never cry; On the same spot I'm always found, toiling away with little sound. What am I?

"a windmill"

 

Two brothers we are, great burdens we bear, all day we are bitterly pressed; Yet this I will say - we are full all the day, and empty when we go to rest. What are we?

"a pair of shoes"

 

What is it that is deaf, dumb and blind and always tells the truth?

"a mirror"

 

What can you break without hitting or dropping it or making a noise?

"a promise"

 

White bird, featherless, flyin' out o' paradise, flyin' over sea and land, dyin' in my hand. What is it?

"a snowflake"

 

If you look, you can't see me. If you see me, you cannot see anything else. I can make you walk when you can't. Sometimes I speak the truth, and sometimes I lie. If I lie, I am nearer the truth. What am I?

"a dream"

 

I am sometimes strong and sometimes weak, but I am nobody's fool. For there is no language that I cannot speak, though I never went to school. What am I?

"an echo"

 

Always old, sometimes new, never sad, sometimes blue. Never empty, sometimes full, never pushes, always pulls.

: "the moon"

 

I am two-faced but bear only one, I have no legs but travel widely. Men spill much blood over me, kings leave there imprint on me. I have greatest power when given away, yet lust for me keeps me locked away. What am I?

"a coin"

 

We are all around, yet to us you are half blind. Sunlight makes us invisible, and difficult to find. What are we?

"stars"

 

When I'm used, I'm useless, once offered, soon rejected. In desperation oft expressed, the intended not protected. What am I?

: "a poor alibi or excuse"

 

Some will use me, while others will not, some have remembered, while others have forgot. For profit or gain, I'm used expertly, I can't be picked off the ground or tossed into the sea. Only gained from patience and time, can you unravel my rhy me?

"knowledge"

 

Iron roof, glass walls, burns and burns and never falls.

"a lantern"

 

My second is performed by my first, and, it is thought, a thief by the marks of my whole might be caught. What am I?

"a footstep"

 

My first is a creature whose breeding is unclear. My second, a price you must pay. My whole can be found in the river of Time and refers to events of today. What am I?

: "current"

 

I can not be seen only heard and I can not speak unless spoken to.

: "an echo"

 

Often held but never touched, always wet but never rusts, often bites but seldom bit, to use me well you must have wit.

"your tongue"

 

Break it and it is better, immediately set and harder to break again.

"a record"

 

Can not be bought, can not be sold, even if it's made of gold.

"a heart"