Riddle thread

[Zamael]

For posting riddles, guessing/knowing answers, and feeling smug and superior when figuring out a particularly difficult one.

 

And there will be no cheating, i.e. no looking the answer from someplace. There's no way for anyone to check if someone really got something by him-/herself, though: This is a matter of personal honor and stuff.

 

Also keep in mind that everyone already knows all those numerous Baldur's Gate riddles, so posting them will only make you look ridiculous.

 

I'll start with a few easy ones:

 

One day a son walked up to his father and pointed to his stomach. "What is this?" His father replied, "It is your belly button. Everyone gets this after being born." Curious, the boy asked, "Do you have one?" The father replied no. How could this be?

 

Take off my skin - I won't cry, but you will!

What am I?

 

Once upon a time, in a land next to a vast desert, there was a beautiful princess, and there were two princes from other countries who both wanted to marry her. They were pretty equal and the princess couldn't decide which one she's pick, so she put them in a contest: They would ride through the desert with camels, and whoever's camel would cross the finish line LAST, would win her hand. They had one day, and after that, she would marry neither of them.

 

And so the princes set off. Both of them took their time, riding real slow and stuff, until the sun began to set. They stopped to this oasis a bit before the end of the desert to ponder the situation, and met an old wise man there. The man gave them one advice, after which both of the princes began racing towards the finish with all their speed.

 

What advice did the man give?

 

A man works upstairs. When night comes, he shuts off the lights and goes downstairs to sleep. In the morning he goes back upstairs, turns on the lights, looks through the window, and commits suicide. What happened?

 

And finally, a classic:

Three travelers spend their night in an inn. In the morning, the innkeeper asks for ten gold pieces each for payment: The men pay their price and set off. However, a bit later, the innkeeper starts to feel guilty about asking such a high price, and gives his son five gold pieces to return them.

 

On his way, the boy decides he has his own problem: How is he going to share five gold pieces with three people? Eventually he decides to keep two gold pieces for himself, and seeking out the travelers, returns a single gold pieces for each. They thank him and go on their journey, while the boy returns to the inn, two gold pieces in his pocket.

 

Each traveler Paid 10 gold pieces for the night, that's 30 gold pieces, but got one piece back, making it 27 gold pieces in total. Meanwhile, the boy had two more pieces, bringing it to 29 pieces. Where did the remaining gold piece go?

[Sir_Carnifex]

So answers can be posted here? Or are we just supposed to PM them so others can continue to guess?

[Zamael]

So answers can be posted here? Or are we just supposed to PM them so others can continue to guess?

Just post 'em here. The first one to get it gets bragging rights. The rest suck.

[Icendoan]

Take off my skin - I won't cry, but you will!

What am I?

 

A skin dancer, I think.

 

Once upon a time, in a land next to a vast desert, there was a beautiful princess, and there were two princes from other countries who both wanted to marry her. They were pretty equal and the princess couldn't decide which one she's pick, so she put them in a contest: They would ride through the desert with camels, and whoever's camel would cross the finish line LAST, would win her hand. They had one day, and after that, she would marry neither of them.

 

And so the princes set off. Both of them took their time, riding real slow and stuff, until the sun began to set. They stopped to this oasis a bit before the end of the desert to ponder the situation, and met an old wise man there. The man gave them one advice, after which both of the princes began racing towards the finish with all their speed.

 

What advice did the man give?

 

Beware mirages?

 

Three travelers spend their night in an inn. In the morning, the innkeeper asks for ten gold pieces each for payment: The men pay their price and set off. However, a bit later, the innkeeper starts to feel guilty about asking such a high price, and gives his son five gold pieces to return them.

 

On his way, the boy decides he has his own problem: How is he going to share five gold pieces with three people? Eventually he decides to keep two gold pieces for himself, and seeking out the travelers, returns a single gold pieces for each. They thank him and go on their journey, while the boy returns to the inn, two gold pieces in his pocket.

 

Each traveler Paid 10 gold pieces for the night, that's 30 gold pieces, but got one piece back, making it 27 gold pieces in total. Meanwhile, the boy had two more pieces, bringing it to 29 pieces. Where did the remaining gold piece go?

 

For the food/ale?

 

Icen

[Sir_Carnifex]

Take off my skin - I won't cry, but you will!

What am I?

An onion

 

Once upon a time, in a land next to a vast desert, there was a beautiful princess, and there were two princes from other countries who both wanted to marry her. They were pretty equal and the princess couldn't decide which one she's pick, so she put them in a contest: They would ride through the desert with camels, and whoever's camel would cross the finish line LAST, would win her hand. They had one day, and after that, she would marry neither of them.

 

And so the princes set off. Both of them took their time, riding real slow and stuff, until the sun began to set. They stopped to this oasis a bit before the end of the desert to ponder the situation, and met an old wise man there. The man gave them one advice, after which both of the princes began racing towards the finish with all their speed.

 

What advice did the man give?

He told them to switch camels.

 

Three travelers spend their night in an inn. In the morning, the innkeeper asks for ten gold pieces each for payment: The men pay their price and set off. However, a bit later, the innkeeper starts to feel guilty about asking such a high price, and gives his son five gold pieces to return them.

 

On his way, the boy decides he has his own problem: How is he going to share five gold pieces with three people? Eventually he decides to keep two gold pieces for himself, and seeking out the travelers, returns a single gold pieces for each. They thank him and go on their journey, while the boy returns to the inn, two gold pieces in his pocket.

 

Each traveler Paid 10 gold pieces for the night, that's 30 gold pieces, but got one piece back, making it 27 gold pieces in total. Meanwhile, the boy had two more pieces, bringing it to 29 pieces. Where did the remaining gold piece go?

It didn't go anywhere. The adding is going in the wrong direction. The boy's two pieces should be subracted, not added, to bring the total to 25 (what the innkeeper got).

[Jarno Mikkola]

One day a son walked up to his father and pointed to his stomach. "What is this?" His father replied, "It is your belly button. Everyone gets this after being born." Curious, the boy asked, "Do you have one?" The father replied no. How could this be?

The father was a god.

[Zamael]

Good job by Carnifex, pretty close but not quite right by Jarno, way off for Icendoan.

[Jarno Mikkola]

Where did the remaining gold piece go?

The accountant. As you calculated wrong, by forgetting the 5gold pieces.

[Zamael]

I did not forget the five gold pieces. They were counted in as the one gold piece refund for each dude and two gold pieces for the barkeep's son.

[Guest Guest]

It is your belly button

 

he is a Clone

 

SK

[Sister Vigilante]

Is the father Adam and the son either Cain or Abel? I don't know my HB well enough to recall if there's specific grounds for thinking Adam didn't have a bellybutton...

 

As for the man who commits suicide, though, I'm surprised no one snapped that up; he's a lighthouse keeper.

[Zamael]

Is the father Adam and the son either Cain or Abel? I don't know my HB well enough to recall if there's specific grounds for thinking Adam didn't have a bellybutton...

 

As for the man who commits suicide, though, I'm surprised no one snapped that up; he's a lighthouse keeper.

 

Both right.

 

Hey you know, you can post your own riddles too.

[Sister Vigilante]

For some reason I have a bigger collection of long-form, bawdy jokes than riddles...Here are a few I vaguely recall from primary school, though:

 

Two men lead a third man up a flight of stairs. They open a door at the top of the stairs and almost immediately the third man dies. What happened?

 

A man is found dead (sense a theme, huh?) in the middle of the desert. He seems to have been killed by a fall, but there is no cliff or the like he could have fallen from. He is completely naked. Some distance away the police find a large pile of clothes. Still further away a small pile of straw. What happened?

 

A father is driving his son home from school when suddenly, through no fault of his own, he is back-ended by a trailer truck. Both he and his son are driven to the hospital, but the head surgeon on staff, ashen-faced, says: "I can't operate on this boy, he's my son." How can this be?

 

Finally:

 

A man rides the elevator up to his apartment on the twenty-seventh floor of his building. However, most days he only rides the elevator to the tenth floor and takes the stairs the rest of the way. Only on rainy days, or when he gets into the elevator with another person, does he ride it all the way up. What's going on?

[Sister Vigilante]

Wait, wait! I forgot this one; it drove me crazy when I first heard it, although of course now I know the answer, I can't imagine how I was ever stumped...

 

A man leaves home. On his expedition, he makes three left turns before returning. When he returns he's confronted with a man in a mask. What happened?

[Zamael]

A father is driving his son home from school when suddenly, through no fault of his own, he is back-ended by a trailer truck. Both he and his son are driven to the hospital, but the head surgeon on staff, ashen-faced, says: "I can't operate on this boy, he's my son." How can this be?

The surgeon's his mother.

 

A man rides the elevator up to his apartment on the twenty-seventh floor of his building. However, most days he only rides the elevator to the tenth floor and takes the stairs the rest of the way. Only on rainy days, or when he gets into the elevator with another person, does he ride it all the way up. What's going on?

The man's very short, and can't reach his floor without help from either someone else or an umbrella.