This article presents the answers to a set of riddles from J.R.R. Tolkien's *The Hobbit*. The riddles are presented in a question and answer format, with the question posed by either Gollum or Bilbo Baggins, and the answer following immediately after.
The article concludes with an invitation to return for another riddle next week.
If you have not read J.R.R. Tolkien's wonderful tale The Hobbit, you are missing out on much more than the answers to these riddles. I hope you got them all right, or Gollum might just decide to devour you. See the original questions here.
Gollum: What has roots as nobody sees, is taller than trees, up, up, up it goes, and yet, never grows?
Answer: A mountain
Bilbo: Thirty white horses on a red hill. First they champ, then they stamp, then they stand still.
Answer: Teeth
Gollum: Voiceless it cries, wingless flutters, toothless bites, mouthless mutters.
Answer: The wind
Bilbo: An eye in a blue face saw an eye in a green face. "That eye is like to this eye," said the first eye. "But in low place, not in high place."
Answer: The sun shining on a daisy
Gollum: It cannot be seen, cannot be felt, cannot be heard, cannot be smelt. It lies behind stars and under hills, and empty holes it fills. It comes first and follows after, ends life, kills laughter.
Answer: Darkness
Bilbo: A box without hinges, key or lid, yet golden treasure inside is hid.
Answer: An egg
Gollum: Alive without breath, as cold as death, never thirsty, ever drinking, all in mail never clinking.
Answer: A fish
Bilbo: No-legs lay on one-leg, two legs sat near on three legs, four legs got some.
Answer: Fish on a little one-legged table, a man sitting at the table on a three-legged stool, the cat gets the bones.
Gollum: This thing all things devours: birds, beasts, trees, flowers; gnaws iron, bites steel; grinds hard stones to meal; slays king, ruins town, and beats high mountain down.
Answer: Time
Bilbo: What have I got in my pocket?
Answer: The Ring!
Come back next week for another riddle!
*See all of our riddles here.
Jay Bennett is the associate editor of PopularMechanics.com. He has also written for Smithsonian, Popular Science and Outside Magazine.
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