Rhyming Riddles

A horrid monster hides from the day, with many legs and many eyes.
With silver chains it catches prey. And eats it all before it dies.
Yet in every cottage does it stay. And every castle beneath the sky.

Barren location, infertile and dry;
my name means "to leave", it's not heard to see why.

It carries paper of the most important sort
but also plastic, I'm glad to report.
What is it?

I don't think or eat or slumber.
Or move around or fear thunder.
Just like you I look the same
but I can't harm you or be your bane.

My back and belly is wood,
and my ribs is lined with leather.
I've a hole in my nose and one in my breast,
And I'm mostly used in cold weather.

Before I grow I'm small.
When I'm old I grow tall.
When I die I give a mighty fall.
What am I?

His is no small athletic feat,
Has to stay nimble on his feet,
To fight and his opponents beat,
And taste sweet victory, not grim defeat.

Made of ten but two we make,
When assembled others quake,
Five apart and we are weak,
Five together havoc wreak.
What are we?

From that which comes within itself,
It builds its table on my shelf.

My step is slow, the snow's my breath
I give the ground, a grinding death
My marching makes an end of me
Slain by sun or drowned in sea.

Halo of water, tongue of wood.
Skin of stone, long I've stood.
My fingers short reach to the sky.
Inside my heart men live and die.

By Moon or by Sun, I shall be found.
Yet I am undone, if there's no light around.

You roll it or you buy it,
People say you shouldn't try it,
Because you may get a stroke,
From inhaling all that smoke.

Silently I drink and dive in fluids dark as night.
I beat the mighty warrior but never in fight.
The black blood in my veins your thirst for knowledge slakes.
My spittle is more venomous than that of poison snakes.

Used to wield power and glory, yet results were rather gorey,
When it wrote our human story.
In the eyes of wiser men, it is weaker than a pen.

At the sound of me, men may dream
Or stamp their feet
At the sound of me, women may laugh
Or sometimes weep.

They try to beat me, they try in vain.
And when I win, I end the pain.

Of these things I have two.
One for me and one for you.
And when you ask about the price,
I simply smile and nod twice.

You use this to clean although it is small.
If you forget it, your smile will appall.
What is it?

A natural state, I'm sought by all.
Go with me and you shall fall.
You do me when you spend,
and you use me when you eat to no end.
What am I?

The land was white the seed was black.
It'll take a good scholar to riddle me that.

My sides are firmly laced about,
Yet nothing is within;
You'll think my head is strange indeed,
Being nothing else but skin.

Agile on my feet, I drive dogs mad.
I flick my tail when I'm angry and hum when I'm glad.
What am I?

It kept him steady and others away.
It kept them safe and showed the way.
Once thrown down upon the ground,
it came alive with a hissing sound.
It hit the rock as it was told.
And that was when the water flowed.
What is it?

Six legs, two heads,
Two hands, one long nose.
Yet he uses only four legs
Wherever he goes.

I go around in circles, But always straight ahead
Never complain, No matter where I am led.

I fly to any foreign parts,
assisted by my spreading wings.
My body holds an hundred hearts,
Nay, I will tell you stranger things when I am not in haste I ride,
and then I mend my pace anon.
I issue fire from my side.
You witty youths, this riddle con.

We dwell in cottages of straw,
and labor much for little gains;
sweet food from us our masters draw,
and then with death reward our pains.

I'm sometimes white and always wrong.
I can break a heart and hurt the strong.
I can build love or tear it down.
I can make a smile or bring a frown.
What am I?

Though desert men once called me God, today men call me mad.
For I wag my tail when I am angry. And growl when I am glad.

I'm very tempting, so it's said,
I have a shiny coat of red,
and my flesh is white beneath.
I smell so sweet, taste good to eat,
and help to guard your teeth.
What am I?

With four oars it swims but it is always at home.
Its back is like armor, tougher than chrome.
What is it?

It can't be seen or felt.
It can't be touched or smelt.
Behind stars and under hills.
All emptiness it fills.
What is it?

In wealth I abound; in water I stand;
As a fencer I'm valued all over the land;
At Venice I'm famous; by farmers I'm prized;
Respected by law, yet huntsmen despised;
Consternation and ruin ensue when I break;
And the beasts of the forest advantage won't take.

Small was my stature, but my success was great.
Until I entered Belgium to be handed my fate.
Who am I?

A serpent swam in a silver urn,
A golden bird did in its mouth abide,
The serpent drank the water, this in turn,
Killed the serpent. Then the gold bird died.

Shifting, Shifting, Drifting deep.
Below me great and mighty cities sleep.
Swirling, Scurlling, All around.
I'm only where no water will be found.

What does man love more than life, fear more than death or mortal strife.
What the poor have, the rich require, and what contented men desire.
What the miser spends, and the spendthrift saves.
And all men carry to their graves.

I weaken all men for hours each day.
I show you strange visions while you are away.
I take you by night, by day take you back.
None suffer to have me, but do from my lack.

Used left or right, I get to travel over cobblestone or gravel.
Used up, I vie for sweet success, used down, I cause men great duress.

If your life is cut short, I am not the one to blame.
You signed up, and your death was not my aim.
Enter our doors; there is so much to see,
We just happen to hold the key,
To adventure abound
And fun to be found
Step in our door
And see what is in store.
What am I?

Hard to catch, easy to hold. Can't be seen, unless it's cold.

You deal with them and they deal chance,
They show you your future at a glance.
You play them and they play you back,
And win or lose, They go back in their pack.

Though my beauty is becoming I can hurt you just the same;
I come in many colors; I am what I am by any other name.

A house where you are brought,
If they find you or get caught.
If you cross the government,
This is where you will be sent.
What is it?

I view the world in little space,
Am always changing place;
No food I eat, but, by my power,
Procure what millions do devour.

Gold in a leather bag, swinging on a tree,
money after honey in its time.
Ills of a scurvy crew cured by the sea,
reason in its season but no rhyme.

Some try to hide, some try to cheat,
but time will show, we always will meet.
Try as you might, to guess my name,
I promise you'll know when you I do claim.

A book once owned by the wealthy, now rare to find.
Never for sale and often left behind.
What am I?

When set loose, I fly away,
Never so cursed, as when I go astray

It's in the church, but not in the steeple;
It's in the parson, but not in the people;
It's in the oyster, but not in the shell;
It's in the clapper, but not in the bell.

Four wings I have, which swiftly mount on high,
on sturdy pinions, yet I never fly;
And though my body often moves around,
upon the self-same spot I'm always found,
and, like a mother, who breaks her infant's bread.
I chew for man before he can be fed.

This is something you can look through
Although it’s not a bubble
There is a large one out in space
Which has the name of Hubble

My first is in wield, sever bones and marrow.
My second is in blade, forged in cold steel.
My third is in arbalest, and also in arrows.
My fourth is in power, plunged through a shield.
My fifth is in honor, and also in vows
My last will put an end to it all.

A prickly house a little host contains;
The pointed weapons keep back from pains,
So he, unarmed, safe in his fort remains.

Given them to the girls whenever,
And they'll be best friends forever.
Shiny, pretty stones,
Bought with massive loans.

My first is twice in apple but not once in tart.
My second is in liver but not in heart.
My third is in giant and also in ghost.
Whole I'm best when I am toast.

I'm a bearer of darkness.
I'm feared and often hated.
I'm a symbol of the unwanted,
An omen that leaves you jaded.
Some people can predict my coming,
But then you'll forever see
Things lurking around corners...
Are you sure that it was me?

I am long and thin and make things right.
I will repair your mistake but watch my bite.
What am I?

Always well dressed, but I never fly.
Black and white, sometimes in a tie.
I swim and slide, and dance and glide,
With one person by my side.
What am I?

I have a little sister, they call her Peep, Peep;
She wades the waters deep, deep, deep;
She climbs the mountains high, high, high;
Poor little creature she has but one eye.

Screaming, soaring seeking sky.
Flowers of fire flying high,
Eastern art from ancient time,
Name me now and solve this rhyme.

It keeps something that cannot be kept,
And wakes you when you've slept.
It may go slow or stop at times,
But even then it chimes.

When it shines, its light is hazy.
Makes the oceans swell like crazy.
It makes moods seem more romantic,
But it makes the ladies frantic.

Written on with words of white,
Has the color of the night,
Is the teacher's best delight,
And a student's daily fright.

Hands she has but does not hold,
teeth she has but does not bite,
feet she has but they are cold,
eyes she has but without sight.
Who is she?

Never alive but practically extinct.
How we miss the letters pressing the ribbon of ink.
What is it?

Double my number, I'm less than a score.
Half of my number is less than four.
Add one to my double when bakers are near.
Days of the week are still greater, I fear.

I march before armies, a thousand salute me.
My fall can bring victory, but no one would shoot me.
The wind is my lover, one-legged am I.
Name me and see me at home in the sky.

At the end of my yard there is a vat,
four-and-twenty ladies dancing in that;
Some in green gowns, and some with blue hat;
He is a wise man who can tell me that.

My love, when I gaze on thy beautiful face.
Careering along, yet always in place,
the thought has often come into my mind.
If I ever shall see thy glorious behind.

It is a symphony of noise,
It can produce both grief and joys,
It is inspiring and grand,
Made by a person or a band.
What is it?

Three little letters, a paradox to some.
The worse that it is, the better it becomes.

In the middle of night, I surround the gong.
In the middle of sight, I end the song.

In marble halls as white as milk,
lined with a skin as soft as silk.
Within a fountain crystal-clear.
A golden apple doth appear.
No doors there are to this stronghold,
yet thieves break in and steal the gold.

My uses are changing, but I still remain the same.
My interior is quiet, and stories are my game.
What am I?

Known as a great deceiver,
It is evil's incarnation,
Once used for veneration,
The root of all procreation.
All you can do is shiver,
When it begins to slither.

Mountains will crumble and temples will fall,
and no man can survive its endless call.
What is it?

A skin have I, more eyes than one.
I can be very nice when I am done.
What am I?

It cannot be seen, it cannot be felt,
Cannot be heard, cannot be smelt,
Lies behind stars and under hills,
and empty holes it fills.
Comes first follows after,
Ends life kills laughter.

I live next to beauty trying to catch your eye.
Grab me without looking, and you're surely to cry.
What am I?

It holds no blessings in disguise.
Its rhymes are aimed at your demise,
it's cast only to ruin,
Whatever you are doin'.

My first is snapping, snarling, growling,
My second's industrious, romping, and prowling.
Higgledy piggledy Here we lie,
picked and plucked, and put in a pie.

Every dawn begins with me.
At dusk I'll be the first you see,
and daybreak couldn't come without.
What midday centers all about.
Daisies grow from me, I'm told.
And when I come, I end all code,
but in the sun I won't be found.
Yet still, each day I'll be around.

You must keep this thing, its loss will affect your brothers.
For once yours is lost, it will soon be lost by others.
What is it?

I'm a slippery fish in a cloudy sea;
Neither hook nor spear will capture me;
With your hand you must hunt down this fish,
to see that it ends up in the dish.

I think you live beneath a roof that is upheld by me;
I think you seldom walk abroad, but my fair form you see;
I close you in on every side, you very dwelling pave,
and probably I'll go with you at last into the grave.