Today I’m going to share a few riddles from It’s Not My Mountain Anymore written by Barbara Taylor Woodall:
- What’s round as a saucer, deep as a cup, the Mississippi River can’t fill up?
- What has a head, but cannot think?
- What is round as a ball, sharp as an awl, lives in the summer dies in the fall?
- Once it was green and growing, now it is dead and singing?
- What goes to the water but cannot drink?
- What has four stiff standers, four down hangers, two lookers, two crookers, and one switchabout?
I had heard the first 3 and the next to the last riddle before reading Barbara’s book. But who knows if I would have ever remembered them again if she hadn’t nudged my memory.
When I read the riddles in Barbara’s book, I immediately thought of how we used to ask each other riddles when I was a kid. Do kids still ask each other riddles? -I hope so. And I hope if you have a riddle from by gone days you’ll leave a comment and share it with me-oh and of course answer the riddles above if you can!
Tipper
p.s. If you can’t wait to read the book yourself-click on any of the links above (title of book in orange or Barbara’s name in orange) to jump over and buy your own copy!
21 Comments
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November 8, 2012 at 5:36 pmThere are lots of things that have heads and can’t think. My first answer was beer. Another one of them is the answer for an adult joke.
I know the answer to Stephen Ammon’s riddle is “nothing”.
Charline
November 8, 2012 at 12:56 amI’m happy to report that my grandson’s 2nd grade teacher begins class each day with a riddle; perhaps not a lost art, after all.
Edwin Ammons
November 7, 2012 at 8:34 pmWhat goes to the water but cannot drink? Well, well, I guess you’ve got me on that one too!
Edwin Ammons
November 7, 2012 at 8:17 pmLet me think! What has a head but cannot think? Me! also,
Cabbage, lettuce, cauliflower, river, lake, creek, branch, holler, table, hammer, mallet, honchos, argument, racquet, beer, toilet, bone, banjo, drum, guitar, fiddle, fern, digital recorder, compass, pointer, page, column, arrow, spear, engine, sail, steam, pimple, ship, department (are capable of thinking but rarely do)
I’m sure there are more but I didn’t want to cheat and Google it. I will probably think of more tomorrow. Don’t know when I’ll get around to the other riddles.
susie swanson
November 7, 2012 at 7:42 pmAwe, dang it. I’ve heard these and the only one I can come up with , It has a head and can not think is a nail.
What’s Black and white and red all over ? A newspaper
Mike McLain
November 7, 2012 at 7:07 pmI had not heard any of these riddles, but I just read Barbara’s book, so I won’t answer them now. There is a lot more good reading in Barbara’s book, though. I very much enjoyed it.
Stephen Ammons
November 7, 2012 at 6:29 pmTipper,
I will share one riddle with you.
What is stronger than God ?
More evil than satan
Poor people have it
Rich People want for it
And if you eat it you will die.
So what could it be ?
Howland
November 7, 2012 at 3:35 pmThe first riddle, I think, describes a sieve. The rest of them have been well answered, I ‘spect. I also ‘spect you won’t leave us hanging for a month before you tell us what’s right?
Jim Casada
November 7, 2012 at 10:17 amLike Miss Cindy, I’m afraid my education, when it came to riddles, was sorely lacking. In fact, the only one I recall was “What is black and white and red (read) all over?”
Also, I’ll haunt you if you don’t share the answers. That’s a sneaky trick one your part, especially on which this pollcat (B. Ruth’s great play on sound) has a mighty bad case of post-election mollygrubs (the worst of my life, by far). Mind you, not supplying the answers probably guarantees that everyone will be back tomorrow in hopes of finding them.
Jim Casada
Tim Cuthbertson
November 7, 2012 at 10:12 amI am over 60 years old, but I learned my favorite riddle from a children’s book just a few years ago:
Why did the Cyclops close his school?
Because he only had one pupil.
Lanny
November 7, 2012 at 9:57 amOhhh, I made need to wait until my coffee break to think about more than the head one (that one is obvious – to a gardener any way).
Alica
November 7, 2012 at 9:41 amMy mind is rusty…I like riddles, and it’s good to get thinking like this again! 🙂 That last one I know for sure…I have up close and personal encounters with a whole bunch of them every day!
Kimberly Burnette
November 7, 2012 at 9:38 amHere is one for you:
Older than Adam,
if Adam were alive.
four weeks old,
but never five.
Kimberly Burnette
November 7, 2012 at 9:36 amYou have included one of my FAVORITE riddles! The answer to the last one is a cow! 🙂
What has a head, but cannot think?
A NAIL!
Once it was green and growing, now it is dead and singing? A FIDDLE!
What has four stiff standers, four down hangers, two lookers, two crookers, and one switchabout? A COW!
Shirla
November 7, 2012 at 9:26 amI don’t remember hearing any riddles when I was growing up. My children used to tell the knock-knock jokes but no riddles.
Jane Bolden
November 7, 2012 at 9:22 amWhat is black and white and red all over? The newspaper
JOHNIE T. ARANT
November 7, 2012 at 9:20 amthis man father is my father’s son
you would be THE SON’s ‘sister’
RIGHT
J.A. IN ARK,
Gina
November 7, 2012 at 9:09 amEven though I’m unsure of the answers,I’ve heard all but the third one. Mama had a nearly endless supply of riddles and Mother Goose rhymes stored in her head. I believe she must have learned them from her mother. One ditty she recited as she bounced me on her knee wen::
“Trotty horse trot down to the mill. See Grandpappy and Old Man Bill.” Another one said: “Dig taters, dig taters, dig. Look this way see nobody coming. Look that way see nobody coming. Pick em up and run. Pick em up and run.” The bouncing child would be turned in first one and then the other direction on the nobody coming lines then lifted up then down on the picking up lines.
Sheryl Paul
November 7, 2012 at 8:47 amRiddles have never been my strong point. I can think of an answer to #2 though
dolores barton
November 7, 2012 at 8:31 amI’m not real good at riddles, but I think the second one might be a hammer. Maybe the singing one is a dormant tree. Before I make a fool of myself; I will quit. One I remember more as an adult is – What is black and white and read all over?
Happy riddling to all!
Miss Cindy
November 7, 2012 at 6:39 amI don’t remember many riddles and,in fact, I don’t remember the answer to the one I do remember. My mother used to say this one
‘Brothers and sisters I have none, but this man’s father is my fathers son, who am I?’
I hope you will give us the answers to the ones from the book.