SIX OLD RIDDLES

When these riddles refer to "first" and "second", they are referring to syllables. To behead is to remove the first letter of a word, and to curtail is to remove the last letter. To transpose is to move letters around. The "whole" is the whole word.

1)

My whole is sought in every art,
Yet behead me and I murder.
If you behead me again, I may die,
Unless the doctor's whole should save me.

2)

My whole is in cottage and palace and hall,
And is constantly used by the great and the small.
Beheaded, most find me attached to their heads,
In various colors---black, brown, or red.
Behead me again and all heads would lie low,
If deprived of my aid, as you promptly would know.

3)

An insect of the smallest kind,

If you transpose you soon will find,
That from all men I quickly fly.
Once gone, my loss in vain they'll mourn,
In vain will wish for my return.
Transpose me back, and you'll know why,
Now to kill me every art they try.

4)

If you should ever a journey take, no matter when or where,
My first you surely have to pay before you can get there.
My second you would not likely see, if cities through you go,
But still it's what I hope you are, few better things I know.
I say my whole with secret pain, though hoping soon to meet again.

5)

Behead a beast and you will find
A larger beast is left behind.
This is wonderful, you may say,
But greater wonder I'll display.
Behead this larger beast, and then,
Instead of one, you'll find I'm ten.

6)

My whole is a sad catastrophe,

When none to help are nigh it;
Curtail, transpose, and you will see
Who mostly suffers by it.

Answers:

1. skill, kill, ill
2. chair/hair/air
3. mite/time
4. farewell
5. FOX/OX/X
6. wreck/crew