The riddles of gollum and bilbo

Anglo-saxon riddles

The Anglo-Saxons loved riddles. They told each other riddles as well as listening to poems at their feasts. Some of the riddles were written down, so we are able to read them today.

Some Anglo-Saxon riddles have survived as playground rhymes. This one comes from Tiptree in Essex. It may be over a thousand years old, and has been kept alive by children learning it from one another and repeating it in the playground.

Four dilly-dandies (teats on the udder) 

Four stick standies (legs) 

Two crookers (horns) 

Two lookers (eyes) 

And a wig wag (tail)

The answer is a --------------------------

Have a look at this segment of The Hobbit where you can see Bilbo and Gollum telling each other riddles 

Here are some more riddles for you to solve.

When I am alive I do not speak.
Anyone who wants to takes me captive and cuts off my head.
They bite my bare body
I do no harm to anyone unless they cut me first.
Then I soon make them cry.

Answer:------------------------.

This one is about a creature and its home. Can you guess what it is?

My home is not quiet but I am not loud.
The lord has meant us to journey together.
I am faster than he and sometimes stronger,
But he keeps on going for longer.
Sometimes I rest but he runs on.
For as long as I am alive I live in him.
If we part from one another
It is I who will die.

Answer: -----------------------.

Can you guess this next one? There are lots of these in the story of Beowulf.

I am all on my own,
Wounded by iron weapons and scarred by swords.
I often see battle.
I am tired of fighting.
I do not expect to be allowed to retire from warfare
Before I am completely done for.
At the wall of the city, I am knocked about
And bitten again and again.
Hard edged things made by the blacksmith's hammer attack me.
Each time I wait for something worse.
I have never been able to find a doctor who could make me better
Or give me medicine made from herbs.
Instead the sword gashes all over me grow bigger day and night.

Answer: ----------------------------.

This last one is about a type of bird. What do you think it is?

I was abandoned by my mother and father.
I wasn't yet breathing.
A kind woman covered me with clothes,
Kept me and looked after me,
Cuddled me as close as if I had been her own child.
Under that covering I grew and grew.
I was unkind to my adopted brothers and sisters.
This lovely woman fed me
Until I was big enough to set out on my own.
She had fewer of her own dear sons and daughters because she did so.

Answer: --------------------------.