I love looking through old books. I love the historic smell when I open them and the Ben Gates-style of care I need to use to turn the pages. Recently, I found a super old children’s book of “riddles and enigmas” from the 1890s. IDK what kids were doing back then, but these are pretty dang hard! See if you can solve them.
1.
“If you a musical instrument behead, a sweeter-toned one will you leave behind.”
2.
“A word of three syllables, seek till you find, that has in it the 26 letters combined.”
3.
“What is that which you have and everyone else has at the same time?”
4.
“I never was but always am to be; None ever saw, you may never see, And yet I am the confidence of all who live and breathe on this terrestrial ball.”
5.
“Round the house, and round the house, and makes but one track.”
6.
“My first brings joy to all around; my second may bring sorrow, my whole but once a year is found, and maybe yours tomorrow.”
7.
“What is that which is too much for one, enough for two, but nothing at all for three?”
8.
“What is that which goes up the hill, and down the hill, and spite of all yet standeth still?”
9.
“What is that which lives in winter, and dies in summer, and always grows with its roots upward?”
10.
“In spring, I am gay in my attire. In summer, I wear more clothing than in spring. In winter, I am naked.”
11.
“By me, men often upward go. Behead – a reptile it will show.”
12.
Finally, “My first may be seen, my second may be heard. My whole is the name of a sweet-singing bird.”