Middle Earth Riddles: The Terror Continues

[Susan Delgado]

Stephanos, you are right in the middle of the right beam. It is vegetable in nature. [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]

[Firladion Greenbow]

What vegetable type thing starts white then goes red?

I don't have a clue!

While i'm thinking, get your teeth into these.

I cast my net, but not for fish,
A tasty morsel is all I wish,
Some fear, some hate and some love me,
But I care not, for I am free,
As big as a hand,
I stalk the land,
or as small as a flea,
No-one sees me.

What am I?

And if that was not enough.

Here I stand, still, proud and strong,
But in this time I don't belong,
I would point, and men would cower before me,
I could enslave or I could set free,
Born in red, raised in silver, fought in red,
In the heat of battle, I have led.

What am I?

These make sense to me, but that doesn't mean a great deal!

Good luck.

A.Y.S.
F.G.

[Kalimac]

Firladion, is your first riddle a spider? And Susan, would yours be a strawberry? (They start out green, then go white and then red, don't they?)

Amanruthiel and Stephanos, thank you [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]. Yes, my computer acts strangely similar...grr...

Good lord, I'm backed up by about three riddles now - argh. Probably better to wait until the latest is gotten or given away, though [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img] - it's not bacteria or laundry, it's something GOOD which everyone here has probably seen almost every day of their lives. Here it is again, just for a refresher.

Millions of lives will end to create me
In every house it happens, every day.
I am not alive, and yet I grow.
And when my growth is ended, I will shrink
Until there is nothing left.

[Susan Delgado]

Aye, that's it, Kalimac. A Strawberry [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]

[Susan Delgado]

This probably isn't it, but, Firladion, is your second riddle the sun?

[Lady_Báin]

firladion is yours a sword you know the forgers fire is red then its silver and then its covered in blood in battle.

[Lady_Báin]

[img]smilies/smile.gif[/img] okay this is my first riddle, and it dosen't rhyme, and it probably makes no sense at all, (ok breathe), on with the riddle.

I can last longer without water that a camel.

I can be as large as a cat.

If you spell my name backwards you will get the first ingriedient in a certain public ridicule - the other being the supreme tickler [img]smilies/tongue.gif[/img]

[Samwise]

Whoa--Sounds like a good riddle to me. I think it's okay if they don't rhyme, I've written ones that don't. Welcome to the board.

LOTR (Movie) Moment (III) (Second Breakfast)
Pippin stops to cook
Aragorn says there's no time
Apple hits a head.

Copyright 2002 S. Uffelman

[Samwise]

my computer keeps sending me loads of lovely error messages lately.

You too? So does mine--or "Page Cannot be Displayed..." those fun things. [img]smilies/frown.gif[/img]

LOTR (Movie) Moment (II) (Moria)
Nine Walkers enter
Frodo's sword glows with blue light
door barred--Orcs coming!

Copyright 2002 S. Uffelman

[Samwise]

Okay, since I have no guesses, here's another one from Sam.
---------------------------------------------
Many families live here
though they don't know each other.
Babies are born but mothers feel no pain.
elders die but no one mourns
nor do they celebrate even though
the deaths bring new life.
Where does this happen?

LOTR (Movie) Moment (IV) (Moria)
Orcs are everywhere
Samwise whacks one with a pot
gets..."the hang of this!" [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]

Copyright 2002 S. Uffelman

[Firladion Greenbow]

Well what do you know, a Strawberry! should have guessed that, 'smacks head in anguish' [img]smilies/rolleyes.gif[/img]

Kalimac that's right, spider it is.

And you too Lady_Báin, it is indeed a sword, and by the way, welcome to the Barrow-Downs.

Thank the Gods you got them, I showed them to my wife and she looked at me as though i'd gone mad! (mind you, this may well be the case.........do mad people know thier mad?)

From Kalimac

Millions of lives will end to create me
In every house it happens, every day.
I am not alive, and yet I grow.
And when my growth is ended, I will shrink
Until there is nothing left.

uummmm, I thought dust, but I know that's not right.

From Lady_Báin

I can last longer without water that a camel.

I can be as large as a cat.

If you spell my name backwards you will get the first ingriedient in a certain public ridicule - the other being the supreme tickler

Oh gosh, my head hurts, too much thinking.

And finally, from Samwise

Many families live here
though they don't know each other.
Babies are born but mothers feel no pain.
elders die but no one mourns
nor do they celebrate even though
the deaths bring new life.
Where does this happen?

Could this be a forest or wood?

I am going to put an ice pack on my head now before my brains dribble out of my ears. [img]smilies/eek.gif[/img]

F.G.

[Samwise]

No, Mister Greenbow, sir, not a forest or wood. (I could make a good Robin Hood joke right now, but since you already have a headache, I won't. [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img])

"Gollum's doing, I'll be bound," said Sam to Frodo. "And a nice place to choose, too. The River seems set on taking us right into their arms! "

[Susan Delgado]

I'm quite sure this is way off, but, is it a colony of protozoa?

[Samwise]

Agh....I knew what protozoa were at one time...no, Susan, not it, but points for showing off brains at this time of night (our morning, depending where you are).

To Sam in the lead boat was given the task of watchman*. It was close to midnight when suddenly Sam cried out. Only a few yards ahead dark shapes loomed up in the stream and he heard the swirl of racing water.
(*Eh--shouldn't that have been watchhobbit?) [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img]

[Kalimac]

Samwise, is yours a garden? (All those flowers, dying and producing seeds for next year...)

Oh, yes, protozoa. They're the...um...the...well, they're the opposite of some other kind of cell. I think they don't have mitochondria and that's their main distinguishing feature. (You can tell how much fun I was to be lab partners with [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img] ).

Um, does anyone have any final guesses on mine before I give up and tell the answer? I'd kinda like to post another one and don't want to be fielding two at once...

[Lady_Báin]

Kalimac define alive. please [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]

[Samwise]

Samwise, is yours a garden? (All those flowers, dying and producing seeds for next year...)

LOL, Kalimac, you're getting to know me too well! Yes, it is indeed a garden. I can't help it, my brain keeps drifting in that direction.... [img]smilies/tongue.gif[/img]
LOL---Kalimac, when I had science in the 8th grade, and we had to dissect frogs, my partner was a guy and he refused to touch the thing. I did it all myself. [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img]

There the white rind of the New Moon could be seen glimmering on the remote lakes. Sam looked at it, and puckered his brows.

[Nuranar]

Lady_Báin, is yours a rat?

Kalimac, I cannot guess yours! My compliments for an excellent riddle and please tell us the answer!!

[Susan Delgado]

My understanding of protozoa is that it's simply a generic term for single celled organisms. I'd have said "amoebas", but protozoa is more fun to say. [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]
I guessed this because they reproduce by fission (is it painless? well, I don't rightly know) and they have no emotions to mourn those who die.

[Kalimac]

Nuranar and Lady_Bain, thank you very much. I think I'm just going to answer it now (also because, to be honest, the only definition I could give of "alive" in this case is "it reproduces" which wouldn't help much). Here's the riddle:

Millions of lives will end to create me
In every house it happens, every day.
I am not alive, and yet I grow.
And when my growth is ended, I will shrink
Until there is nothing left.

The answer is....BREAD. The millions of lives are, of course, the yeast.

Samwise - Thank you! [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]. I am complimented. Yes, I remember the frog...also the little squid, the fish, the worm, the cow's eye, the whole panoply. And actually I usually was the one that did the dissecting; I was good at using the scalpel (I remember my biology teacher standing up front and saying "OK, class, now's the time to separate the butchers from the brain surgeons.") My problem was that I was never what it was I was *seeing*. So usually I'd cut the thing up and my lab partner would figure out what was what. I was pretty helpless when it came to individual dissections, though. Ugh. Glad that's over.

Here's one of my backed-up riddles:

I cannot see, I cannot hear, I cannot taste or touch.
But without me, neither can you.

[Samwise]

Ah, thank YOU, Kalimac.
Is your latest riddle's answer the brain?
LOL on your science stories....you had to dissect ALL those different things?? EYECCH.
I remember later, in High school, we had, after the initial "Frog", the choice of doing other animals if we wished...one of which included a PREGNANT CAT!
[img]smilies/eek.gif[/img]
Ugh...Okay, back to the topic....
Now that I think about it, "Rat" sounds good for that other riddle; being "tar" spelled backwards and "tar and feather" being public ridicule...and all. How in the WORLD did you figure that out???

[Kalimac]

Samwise, it is indeed the brain [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]. (Wonder what made me think of that?)

Pregnant cat? Urgh. Glad I missed that one! Did you ever have to do the fetal pig? I don't know how I forgot that when I was making that last list - it was undoubtedly the worst of all (blocked the memory or something, I guess). The thing that really got me was that the school had hundreds of tubs of fetal pigs all of which had been *donated by an alumnus*. I've wondered for a long time exactly what the alumnus was trying to say by doing that....

[Samwise]

Eew...you didn't have to dissect...ugh.
Anyway, YAY! Got it right! (Stick to that topic...)
Got to think up another riddle myself. They seem to only come when I'm not thinking about it.

"That's about it," said Sam. "I'll keep watch. I can sleep tomorrow, being no more than luggage in a boat, as you might say. "

[Lady_Báin]

yay!!! Yes Nuranar you got it I am glad [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img] I thought it was to much of a mangeled mess, but you are to clever [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img] !!

[Susan Delgado]

Ah, man! Kalimac, I thought of that answer but I didn't say it because I thought, "Well, it doesn't happen every day in every house"...erg

[Firladion Greenbow]

You lot are great at these, I can but watch in awe.

So, here is another for you.

I used to be mighty, I used to be free,
The wind used to blow through me,
But now i'm a shadow of my life before,
I just stand in a corner or pace the floor.

What am I?

F.G.

[Raefindel]

I used to be mighty, I used to be free,
The wind used to blow through me,
But now i'm a shadow of my life before,
I just stand in a corner or pace the floor.

What am I?

Master Greenbow, Is this a broom? It used to be a tree that the wind blows through, but now it sits in the corner...

[Kalimac]

Hmmm...broom sounds good to me, Raefindel, in fact nothing else sounds like a reasonable answer now...

Susan - Oops, sorry about the "every day, every house" thing. I can only say that if you grew up with four siblings and a mother who did all her own bread baking you do tend to take that line for granted...

[Susan Delgado]

Ah, well. Next time I'll just go ahead and make the wild guess [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img] It was excellently stumping though. Very enjoyable.

[Marileangorifurnimaluim]

I've one, sorry it's not polished:

You can see me, though you're blind.
Light shines, but dispells no darkness.
Touch me and I live
But if you're touched I die.
What am I?

[Susan Delgado]

I just made this one up, so I don't know if it's lame or not, but here it is

I dwell together with hundreds of my brothers.
One day I'm let out,
One scratch and I die.

[Nuranar]

Lady_Báin and Samwise, thank you so much! I don't know how I guessed it; I just started with "the supreme tickler"--of course, a feather! and then the jump to tar and feathers, etc., etc. I'd love to post one in reply, but making up riddles doesn't just happen to me; I need to work on it. I'll be back!

Maril, the only thing I can think of right now is a dream.

[Firladion Greenbow]

Bugger it all, will I ever make one up that you can't guess!

Raefindel, once again you are correct, the answer is a Broom, well done!

I have now run out of riddles, so I will away and ponder those of others and try and think of others.

F.G.

[Raefindel]

Well, I guess we all know now where MY mind is... I'm well acquainted with brooms, Sir!

Actually, Greenbow, I'm not very good at this myself. I had my husband helping me think of a new riddle to post, because I can't come up with my own. The "Middle Earth Nursery Rhyme" I worked on for a long time before I posted it. Now I have to work on a new riddle to post! That's the trouble with winning... [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img]

[Raefindel]

OK, here's a go, though I know it won't stump anyone.

Time in a bottle,
the home of a king.
Sleep aide,
fun in a box.

What am I?

[Kalimac]

Rae, is it sand?

Hello Maril! I have no idea what yours is. The only thing that came to mind was an atom bomb, I don't know why, but that obviously isn't the answer...

I can't really think of anything else in the way of riddles at this moment ... mental decay creeping in, I suppose [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img].

[Raefindel]

Sand it is. I knew it wouldn't stump anyone, but hey, you guys are so fun to play with. [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]

Good Job, Kalimac! [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]

[Samwise]

Actually, Rae, I was stumped by it until I scrolled down and saw Kalimac's answer!
BTW, I'm really no good at thinking them up, either, that #13 one was a total fluke.... [img]smilies/rolleyes.gif[/img]

"I had a funny dream an hour or two before we stopped, Mr. Frodo. Or maybe it wasn't a dream. Funny it was, anyway. "
"Well, what was it?" said Frodo, knowing that sam would not settle down until he had told his tale, whatever it was.

[Samwise]

Susan, I'm sure this isn't it, but it's all I can think of at the moment: an itch?

When thirteen had fallen and the rest fled shrieking, leaving the defenders unharmed, except for Sam, who had a scratch along the scalp. A quick duck had saved him; and he had felled his Orc; a sturdy thrust with his Barrow-blade. A fire was smouldering in his brown eyes that would have made Ted Sandyman step backwards, if he had seen it.

[Kalimac]

I liked it too, mostly I was guessing on probabilities. What does the "home of a king" clue mean, BTW? I was thinking of something vaguely Pharaoh-related - pyramids, lots of sand surrounding them and all that - but not sure. And Samwise, if it helps, I tried the #13 riddle (with credit) on a couple of other people and neither of them came close [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img].

Now if only I had even the vaguest idea on some of these other ones...my brain is starting to feel a little squeezed.