All Things Devours
This thing all things devours,
Birds, beasts, trees, and flowers.
Gnaws iron bites steel,
Grinds hard stones to meal,
Slays king, ruins town,
And beats high mountain down
Time. Iron, steel, stone and virtually any substance will be worn down given enough time.
(From J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit)
Feared By Most But Experienced By All
I am a five-letter word and am feared by most but experienced by all. If you remove my first and last letters I bring life. If you add an ‘r’ between the third and fourth letters I am almost nothing and if you remove the first letter from this new word, I am your home.
What am I?
Death (eat, dearth, earth). No one can escape death, but many fear it. Removing the first and last letters leaves eat, and we must eat to stay alive. Adding the ‘r’ turns death into dearth, which is scarcity and removing the first letter of dearth leaves earth, where you live, assuming this riddle hasn’t reached extraterrestrials.
Right Behind You Creeps on the Ground
It’s right behind you,
And creeps on the ground,
It follows you home,
But does not make a sound.
Careful when you turn around.
What is it?
Your shadow.
In Oven But Not Baked
What must be in the oven yet can not be baked?
Grows in the heat yet shuns the light of day?
What sinks in water but rises with air?
Looks like sand, but is fine as hair?
Yeast.
My Motor Revs, But I’m No Rocket
My motor revs, but I’m no rocket,
I’ll hit you deep within your pocket,
I’m a little tart, don’t be afraid,
Unless life’s gift – then quick, seek aid!
A lemon. It’s a citrus fruit whose juice is acidic and can be used to conduct electricity for motors. A car or other purchase that has problems is known as a lemon and can be expensive to repair. Lemons have a tart flavor but do little harm (unless you get it in a cut, then it hurts like the dickens). The old saying goes, “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade” (I know, it’s spelled aid not ade but it sounds the same and wouldn’t make any sense the other way. It all works out nicely when the riddle is told instead of read.)
Up and Down and Round About
I’m up and down and round about,
yet all the world can’t find me out.
Though thousands have employed their leisure,
they never yet could find my measure.
I’m found in almost every garden,
In a compass or a farden.
There’s neither chariot coach nor mill
may move one inch except I will.
What am I?
A circle.