I. Word Riddles:
The entire word is shown paraphrased.
1.
Guess child: who am I? I'm wide and hollow at the front, I'm long and narrow at the back. Feed yourself at lunch.
2.
It is made of wood and glass, the light shines through. What is that?
3.
First white as snow, I know even more; Then green like grass, I know something more; Then red like blood, it's still not good. Black as pitch, now it's right.
4.
Whoever bites me, I will bite him again and wet his eyelids at once.
5.
Child, tell me the bird that can call its name?
6.
I speak without a tongue, I scream without lungs, I also have no heart, and yet I take part in joy and pain.
7.
A girl's name has four characters, and you read the same thing backwards and forwards.
8.
If it is the apple, the pear, no one will enjoy it. If it is the student, the easiest work will annoy him.
9.
Even the lowest servant can become so through the favor of Fortune. Yet only monarchs can possess it.
10.
I have two holes, I need two fingers, so I make long and wide things small and separate what shouldn't be together.
11.
I am with father, mother, grandpa at all times; But uncle, aunt, stepmother, I can't stand them at all; -- I begin every riddle, And every good advice; Yes, alas, I am always in the word and never in the deed.
12.
Four players play all night; They played their game with zeal, and no one lost and everyone won, who were the players? oh, name them!
13.
I do not tell you what I tell you, but what I tell you, I tell you, so that you may tell Me what I do not tell you.
14.
The sentences that are leather, every child probably knows them.
15.
One, we are two; but when we join together, we tear apart everything we get.
16.
Although all know me as radiant, I am still only a servant; I allow myself to be called variously, just as I stand on the heavenly field; Whether I go ahead of the mistress, whether I often stand behind her.
17.
Soon I'll be big, soon I'll be small; -- You will find me in every grove; I am also in the valley and water, Even in every fume and smoke; In sleep I come before your eyes... Don't you know the solution to the riddle?
18.
I wasn't there a short time ago, and now, you don't know how it happened, I came into being completely in the dark and am there as a beautiful work of art. The artist had to treat me, turning the sun's light into black, and shining silver had to fade, so that you might find yourself well captured.
19.
Whoever does it doesn't say it; Whoever takes it does not know it; Anyone who knows it won't take it.
20.
So catch the unpleasant fellow before he bothers you anymore; I can't, because he quickly did what his name tells us.
21.
When you have received him, remain faithful and kind to him. He is the sign of the eternal covenant and shines in gold. But if you leave a single sign out of it completely; The word then proclaims that woe has affected your heart.
22.
The blind man saw the hare running, the lame man quickly jumped after it, the naked man puts it in his pocket: what trouble is this?
23.
It becomes a heavy burden and yet has no weight. It rests on many a field; And yet you can't see it; It's not uncommon for it to be extinguished and it doesn't burn beforehand!
24.
You have gone up to many a man and politely asked that he might give it to you. Still, it won't make you happy, if someone gives it of their own free will.
25.
In every heart that beats, in every breast that moves, in every pain that oppresses you, in every joy that delights you, but never in suffering and anguish, you will have already met me.
26.
If you call me “der”, I bring triumph and blunt the opponent’s weapon. If you call me “die”, I present myself as the vassal of our Rhine.
27.
Of all the serpents there is not one that has been conceived on earth, with which none can be compared in speed, nor in fury.
She rushes with a terrible voice on her prey, destroys in a fury the rider and his horse.
She loves the highest peaks; Not a lock, not a bolt, can protect against her onslaught; The armour -- lures her on.
She breaks like thin stalks, The strongest tree in two; She can crush the ore, no matter how dense and solid it is.
And this monster Never threatened twice. -- It dies in its own fire; As it kills, it dies!
(Schiller.)
28.
If you untie the Gordian knot that I pictured to you, then I will stop treating you as what your mind still thinks I am.
29.
Whoever has it has reason to complain, And whoever lacks it is healthy. Whoever keeps quiet can tell us a lot, and whoever says it always keeps his mouth clean. The miser can give it away; The voluptuous spendthrift is skimping on it. He who never thinks will always think of it, And everyone takes it with them to the grave.
30.
Mysteriously a mere hint, almost nothing, ghostly often, it is an enemy of the light. Where little flowers wither on the desolate field, dying nature is shrouded in sadness; The weary, one and all, it covers peacefully in still hours for sweet rest and repose. It adorns the maiden when love and happiness beckons her, envelops her when love and happiness sinks, when the last one, who was her refuge and stay, is torn from her by death's omnipotence. It covers her in the coffin, as the cradle once did, Until the trumpet sounds for the great victory.
31.
A bridge is built from pearls High over a gray lake; It builds itself up in an instant, and dizzying it rises to the heights.
The highest masts of the highest ships pass beneath her arch, she herself has not yet carried any burdens and seems to flee as you approach her.
It comes into being only with the stream and vanishes as the water's flood runs dry. So tell me where the bridge is, and who fashioned it with such art?
(Schiller.)
32.
In a large pasture walk many thousand sheep silver-white; As we see them wandering today, so the very oldest greybeard saw them.
They never grow old and drink life from an unexhausted source. A shepherd is given to them with a beautifully curved silver horn.
He drives them out to golden gates, He counts them over every night, and has not lost one of the lambs, however often he has made the journey.
A faithful dog helps him guide them, A lively ram leads the way. The herd, can you interpret it for me? And show me the shepherd too!
(Schiller.)
II. Charades:
(Syllable riddles.)
First you have to guess the individual syllables, then the whole of a multi-syllable word.
33.
The first rustles, moved by the wind, When the second stirs in the swamp; The whole thing screams and is not still when the weather wants to change.
34.
You will find the first scattered everywhere on earth; It adorns the garden and the field, It adorns many a colorful dress. The second the ruler's head wears, -- wherever his kingdom may be, the whole is every little flower, no matter how small.
35.
My first is not dirty; My second one isn't round; My whole is a clever animal, Far cleverer than the dog.
36.
The first is in Switzerland; The second is related to the rock; -- The whole thing is given by the seashore and, embellished by human hands, is sent as jewelry all over the world.
37.
The first is a sound of pain, the second you see in the sky; The whole, from the bottom of the sea, delights the rich man's dainty palate.
38.
The first two sounds mean a lot; -- The last two the cook prepares for you; -- The whole thing tells you something from which you make the first two.
39.
The first two are brought into the last two; And last two of the whole made for first two.
40.
My first is full of light; my second is full of songs; My whole adorns, guards, defends, and also knocks down.
41.
The first contains the means of biting; The other the things to bite; The whole thing prevents biting.
42.
The first is not yours; The second is no joke; Keep yourself clear of the whole thing, because it screams to heaven!
43.
My first is a precious drink, My second grows on the sunny ground; My first one is made from the second. You can cut the whole thing on the stick in the fall.
44.
The first two syllables are a sacred number; With the last two you can probably get money anywhere; If you look around at the whole thing, you will find a grand duchy.
45.
Without my first two you would never see yourself; Cattle are often driven to the green last two. Up on the mountain ridge you will surely find the whole.
46.
On England's soil lives the First; The second is peculiar to the hero; In the whole, in the true sense, man will never show himself friendly.