INTERNATIONAL RIDDLES

GAMES Magazine

November/December, 1980

Willard R. Espy

 

1) 

from Russia

The old woman's starving mutt

Spies above the hut

A toothsome crust of bread.

Ah, but

It's way above his head;

He barks, unfed. 

 

2)

 from Ceylon

By day I am an empty room;

By night, a garden in full bloom.

 

3)

from India

There are two little doors around;

That open and shut without any sound. 

 

4)

from Ireland

Two white cows 

From the farmyard stray;

One by night,

One by day. 

 

5) 

from Haiti

Answer, I implore

  This enigma, love:

Four feet on the floor,

   Four feet above 

 

6)

from the U.S. Midwest

What never was

And never will be?

The answer, my friend, 

Is easy to see.

What? Haven't guessed?

It's perfectly clear:

 

7)

from the Middle East 

Who holds me tight

Through the night

But at dawn's crack

Turns her back? 

8)

from Africa

Bury deep

   Heap on stones.

Yet will I

   Dig up the bones. 

Answers:

 

1. The crescent moon

2. The sky

3. Eyelids

4. The moon and sun

5. A cat on a table

6. A mouse's nest in a cat's ear

7. Sleep

8. Memory