Senior Riddles
Seniors in British Literature are starting the year off with the Anglo-Saxon period (449 -1066). This time period was characterized by warring clans, feasting in mead halls, stories of sea monsters and dragons, and the legendary hero Beowulf. A form of Anglo-Saxon entertainment was the riddle. Riddles are word games in which an everyday object is described in an unusual way. Here is a sample Anglo-Saxon riddle:
I am a wonderful help to women,
The hope of something to come. I harm
No citizen except my slayer.
Rooted I stand on a high bed.
I am shaggy below. Sometimes the beautiful
Peasant’s daughter, an eager-armed,
Proud woman grabs my body,
Rushes my red skin, holds me hard,
Claims my head. The curly-haired
Woman who catches me fast will feel
Our meeting. Her eye will be wet.
So, could you figure it out? It’s an onion! After reading six riddles, I asked the seniors to write their own riddles. Here are their favorites (with answers, of course!).
By McKenzie Bahns, Jesse Gall, and Stephen Gustin
When my hair grows long, I get it cut.
My stems get smashed and broken every time you line them up.
I may be wet, I may be dry,
But when I’m done I become a pie.
(alfalfa)
By Bridget Dinslage, Kaleb Papousek, and John Steffensmeier
If dropped, I am back where I started.
Heat and pressure makes me unite.
My millions can be found at the bottom of the ocean along with sunken ships.
(glass)
By Libby Janousek and Nick Urbanek
I am your friend when you are scared.
I can be long or short in many shapes and sizes.
Push my button, and I will get hot.
I’m silent when I work, but you know I’m there.
I do my best work when you don’t know what’s there.
(flashlight)
By Abbey Hamernik, Erika Rupprecht, and Trine Svendsen
When you were young, you rather liked me
‘Cause I was small and growing slightly.
But as you grew, so did I,
And now you quite despise me.
So as you pass, I will stand still,
And be engraved in stone and hill.
(age)
By Lucas Gurnsey, Sydney Novak, and Trent Pekny
I’m something you can’t keep until you give me away.
I may be long. I may be short.
I can build while also destroying.
I can be “loud” while being quiet.
(a secret)
By Hannah Baumert, Thomas Bunner, and Jadine Wiese
I come from what I was before.
The eye is from where I emerge.
It’s dark and cold where I am from.
On the outside I am lush and beautiful.
From me are many things formed.
(a potato)