Famous and Classic Riddles
Some riddles have survived for thousands of years. This collection gathers the most famous riddles in history with answers and a note on where each one came from, starting with the riddle of the Sphinx that Oedipus solved. You'll also find classic riddles from the Bible, Norse myth, Victorian puzzle books, and the schoolyard.
The riddle of the Sphinx and other ancient riddles
The four-legs-two-legs-three-legs classic, Samson's riddle from the Bible, and questions about the oldest riddles ever written down.
Classic riddles from literature and folklore
St. Ives and his seven wives, the thirty white horses, and Lewis Carroll's raven and writing desk. Old English and Norse riddle traditions get their turn too.
Famous riddles with answers everyone should know
The portrait riddle, the word always spelled incorrectly, and the thing greater than God. These are the classics people misquote at parties, solved and explained.
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1. What walks on four legs in the morning, two legs at noon, and three legs in the evening?
Need a hint?
Morning, noon, and evening stand for the stages of a whole life.
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A human. We crawl as babies, walk upright as adults, and use a cane in old age. This is the riddle of the Sphinx, which Oedipus solved in Greek myth.
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2. There are two sisters: one gives birth to the other and she, in turn, gives birth to the first. Who are the two sisters?
Need a hint?
They take turns, forever, and neither can exist without the other.
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Day and night. This is the second, lesser-known riddle of the Sphinx from Greek tradition.
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3. Out of the eater came something to eat, and out of the strong came something sweet. What is it?
Need a hint?
Samson had recently killed a lion, and bees had moved in.
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Honey from a lion's carcass. This is Samson's riddle from the Book of Judges, one of the oldest riddles ever written down.
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4. As I was going to St. Ives, I met a man with seven wives. Each wife had seven sacks, each sack had seven cats, each cat had seven kits. Kits, cats, sacks, and wives, how many were going to St. Ives?
Need a hint?
You met them. Which direction were they walking?
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Just one: you. Everyone else was coming FROM St. Ives. This English rhyme dates back to at least 1730.
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5. Thirty white horses on a red hill. First they champ, then they stamp, then they stand still. What are they?
Need a hint?
The red hill is inside your head.
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Teeth. A traditional English folk riddle, later made famous by a certain riddle game in a dark cave.
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6. My roots run deep where nobody goes. I stand taller than any tree, yet I have never grown an inch. What am I?
Need a hint?
My roots reach deep into the earth, but I am not alive.
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A mountain. Riddles in this shape go back to old Anglo-Saxon and Norse tradition.
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7. I speak without a mouth and hear without ears. I have no body, but I come alive with wind. What am I?
Need a hint?
Shout across a canyon and I answer you.
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An echo. One of the most repeated classic riddles in the world.
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8. In Greek myth, what happened to the Sphinx after Oedipus answered her riddle correctly?
In most tellings the Sphinx threw herself from her rock and died. Thebes was freed, and Oedipus was made king soon after.
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9. A thief crept through a monastery library and ate a scholar's finest words, yet swallowed no wisdom at all. Monks wrote about me a thousand years ago. What is the thief?
Need a hint?
It chews through pages but never learns a thing.
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A bookworm. This retells Riddle 47 from the Exeter Book, a manuscript of Old English riddles copied down around the year 975.
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10. What has keys but can't open locks, space but no room, and you can enter but can't go inside?
Need a hint?
You are probably close to one right now.
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A keyboard. A modern classic built on the much older piano riddle.
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11. I am a little box with no hinges, no lock, and no lid, yet golden treasure hides inside me. What am I?
Need a hint?
The treasure is the yolk.
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An egg. An old folk riddle form found in collections long before it turned up in fantasy novels.
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12. What is greater than God, more evil than the devil, the poor have it, the rich need it, and if you eat it you'll die?
Need a hint?
The answer is hiding in plain sight in the question.
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Nothing. Nothing is greater than God, nothing is more evil than the devil, and if you eat nothing you die. A famous trick riddle passed around for generations.
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13. I live but never breathe. I am cold as the grave. I drink all day yet am never thirsty, and I wear shining mail that makes no sound. What am I?
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A fish
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14. What can run but never walks, has a mouth but never talks, has a head but never weeps, has a bed but never sleeps?
Need a hint?
It starts in the mountains and ends at the sea.
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A river. One of the most anthologized riddles in English.
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15. The riddle of the Sphinx appears in the ancient Greek play 'Oedipus Rex' word for word.
False. Sophocles never states the riddle in the play. The audience already knew it, so the text only refers to it. The full wording comes from other ancient sources.
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16. I devour everything: birds and beasts, trees and flowers. I wear down iron, crumble castles, and turn mountains into sand. Even kings cannot escape me. What am I?
Need a hint?
I defeat mountains and kings alike, but very slowly.
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Time. The 'time devours all' riddle is an ancient form, made newly famous by literature's most dangerous riddle game.
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17. I am always hungry and must always be fed. The finger I touch will soon turn red. What am I?
Need a hint?
Feed me wood and I grow. Feed me water and I die.
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Fire. A classic riddle found in collections across many languages.
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18. What English word is always spelled incorrectly?
Need a hint?
Read the question again, very literally.
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The word 'incorrectly.' A famous schoolyard trick question.
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19. The famous 'Einstein riddle' asks who owns a certain pet, given clues about five houses. Which pet is it?
The classic zebra-puzzle variant credited to Einstein asks who keeps the fish. There is no proof Einstein wrote it, which is part of its legend.
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20. A man looks at a portrait and says: 'Brothers and sisters I have none, but that man's father is my father's son.' Who is in the portrait?
Need a hint?
Replace 'my father's son' with the person it must be.
Show answer
His son. 'My father's son' is the speaker himself, so the portrait shows the speaker's son. A famous logic riddle from Victorian puzzle books.
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21. What comes once in a minute, twice in a moment, but never in a thousand years?
Need a hint?
Stop thinking about time. Look at the words.
Show answer
The letter M. A print classic since the 1800s.
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22. I saw maidens marching over the sea. Each wore a white hood, yet not one of them had a head. Who were they?
Need a hint?
Watch the water near the shore on a windy day.
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Waves, wearing hoods of white foam. This comes from the Old Norse saga of King Heidrek, where Odin in disguise plays a riddle contest with a king.
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23. Riddle contests appear in Norse mythology, including one where Odin competes in disguise.
True. In the Vafthrudnismal, Odin has a life-or-death wisdom contest with the giant Vafthrudnir, and he wins with an unanswerable question.
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24. Four hang, four sprang, two point the way, two ward off dogs, one dangles after, always rather dirty. What is it?
Need a hint?
Picture a farm animal, piece by piece.
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A cow. Four teats hang, four legs spring, two horns point, two hind legs kick at dogs, and the tail dangles. A riddle in the old Norse style.
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25. I spend my whole life drying others, and the better I do my job, the wetter I become. What am I?
Need a hint?
You grab me the moment you step out of the bath.
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A towel. This small paradox has been a favorite of printed riddle books since the 1800s.
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26. The oldest known riddles were written on clay tablets. Which civilization left them to us?
Sumerian school tablets from around 4,000 years ago carry the earliest riddles we can still read today.
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27. I have cities, but no houses. I have mountains, but no trees. I have water, but no fish. What am I?
Need a hint?
You can fold me up and put me in a glovebox.
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A map. A modern classic repeated in nearly every riddle book of the last century.
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28. What is so fragile that saying its name breaks it?
Need a hint?
You can keep it or break it, but never touch it.
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Silence. One of the most shared riddles on the internet, with roots in much older word riddles.
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29. An eye in a blue face saw an eye in a green face. 'That eye is like to this eye,' said the first, 'but in low place, not in high place.' What is it?
Show answer
The sun shining on daisies
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30. 🦁 + 🐝
Need a hint?
Think of the oldest riddle in this collection.
Show answer
Honey from the lion (lion + bee): a nod to Samson's famous riddle.
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31. In 'Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire,' a sphinx blocks the maze with a riddle. Its answer is a creature Ron would hate. Which one?
The sphinx's riddle builds the word 'spider' piece by piece. Harry solves it and keeps his wand ready, just in case.
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32. The phrase 'riddle of the Sphinx' refers to a puzzle from ancient Egypt.
False. The famous riddle belongs to the Greek Sphinx of Thebes. The Egyptian sphinx statues, like the one at Giza, ask no riddles at all.
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33. 'Why is a raven like a writing desk?' is a famously unanswered riddle. Who asks it?
The Mad Hatter asks it in 'Alice in Wonderland' and admits he has no answer. Lewis Carroll invented one later: 'Because it can produce a few notes.'
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FAQ about Famous and Classic Riddles
What is the most famous riddle of all time?
The riddle of the Sphinx is the usual answer: what walks on four legs in the morning, two at noon, and three in the evening. It opens this collection, along with a trivia question about what happened to the Sphinx after Oedipus solved it.
Do these riddles include their origins?
Yes. Each classic comes with a note on where it entered the record, whether that is Greek myth, the Book of Judges, a Victorian puzzle book, or playground tradition. A few true or false cards test what people think they know about those origins.
Can I use these famous riddles in a classroom?
They fit history and literature lessons well, since many connect directly to texts students meet anyway. Most are solvable by middle schoolers, and every answer reveals on tap so you can run the page as a group quiz.
The riddle contest between Bilbo and Gollum deserves its own page, so we gave it one: The Hobbit Riddles: Bilbo vs Gollum. And if the ancient form hooked you, most classics here follow the same pattern as our What Am I Riddles.