Riddle: Every day, pilgrims make the journey to the temple of the wooden soldiers. Upon entering the temple, most of the pilgrims seek out a holey orb with which to do battle against soldiers who are dressed in red and white uniforms. Each orb is used to attack small groups of these passive soldiers — soldiers which have the unique ability to replicate themselves whenever their ranks are assaulted by the pilgrims. The mystic orbs, like boomerangs, have the uncanny ability to return to the hand of each pilgrim when cast at the soldiers during these skirmishes. What kind of a temple is this which promotes violence by allowing people to attack innocent soldiers?
Answer: Temples like this are known as Bowling Alleys.
Riddle: A man rode his horse to the top of a high hill. He tied his horse to a large birch tree, and removed a blanket, a flint and steel for making fire, and a small hatchet to cut down a bunch of green saplings. He then gathered a bunch of dried leaves and took them, along with the green saplings, to an open area near some smaller rocks. Using the flint and steel, he tried to start a fire with the leaves and green wood. As the fire struggled to burn, the man did something remarkable. He suddenly took his blanket and covered the fire with it. Apparently, regretting his actions, he removed the blanket from the smoldering fire; but then, a few seconds later, he placed the blanket back over the fire. Again and again he repeated his actions of throwing the blanket on and off the fire. Was this man an obsessive-compulsive pyromaniac, or was there some kind of method to his madness?
Answer: The man was a Native American Indian in the old West who was sending smoke signals to his tribe.
Riddle: It's a little-known fact that one of Batman's deadliest enemies, The Riddler, got married after his days of crime were behind him. The Riddler's wife enjoyed riddles even more than her husband, and she often tried to baffle him with riddles around the house. One day his wife, whose name was Riddlina, saw an opportunity to try to stump her husband with an old riddle she had first heard as a child. "My husband!" Riddlina exclaimed, "We have an extreme emergency! I just discovered we don’t have even one circle with a thousand squares left in the entire house!" The Riddler was shocked, at first, until he figured out what was distressing his wife. Do you know to what object Riddlina was referring to, which caused her emotional outburst? Incidentally, as soon as the Riddler solved his wife's riddle, he immediately got into his car and drove to a local store. What was he planning to get?
Answer: The old riddle his wife used (a circle with a thousand squares) to indicate an emergency item that was missing from their house, was a roll of toilet paper. Needless to say, the Riddler immediately went out to purchase some.
Riddle: A rookie police officer was working his assigned beat, but to make his job a little more interesting, he decided to bring his radar gun along with him. He began testing the gun by pointing it at various moving objects to determine their speed. He noted people were moving between one and three miles per hour; however, when he pointed his radar gun away from the crowd of people there, the gun suddenly read 80 M.P.H. Again he pointed it in the same direction, and he got a speed reading of 85 M.P.H. He continued pointing the radar gun toward the same general area for the next 30 minutes and recorded speeds ranging between 60 and 95 miles per hour. Considering the fact there were numerous people milling about the area he was patrolling, why do you suppose he never once reported any of these high speeds to his department? For the safety of all of these people, shouldn't a speed trap be set up or speeding tickets issued? What exactly was going on here?
Answer: The rookie police officer was assigned to patrol a minor league baseball game. Most of his radar readings came from his pointing the gun at the various pitches the opposing pitchers were throwing during the game.
Riddle: Irene is an amazing artist. She can draw anything and everything, and draw them all well. The unique thing about Irene's art is she uses both of her hands to draw her pictures, even though she is not ambidextrous. Holding a round piece of plastic in each of her hands, she is able to create magnificent works of art. Irene, however, has one great fear in her life --- Earthquakes!!! Now, Irene is a mentally healthy person with a stable personality, so why in the world should this talented artist have a constant fear of earthquakes, which rarely happen in the state of Florida where she resides? Does her fear of earthquakes have anything to do with her type of artwork, and if so, exactly what type of art does Irene create?
Answer: Irene is an Etch-a-Sketch artist who keeps her completed pictures on the walls of her home. One good shake from an earthquake, and all of her pictures could be erased.
Riddle: One summer evening, as Irene sat on the front porch of her old Kentucky home, she witnessed about a dozen men in two large trucks pull up to an old abandoned farmhouse about a hundred yards from hers. Suspicious, she grabbed her binoculars and observed two of the men approach the old farmhouse --- and set it on fire! After ten minutes had passed, the farmhouse was completely engulfed in flames, but neither Irene nor any of her neighbors in sight of the burning building ever bothered to call 9-1-1 to report any of these events. To make matters even worse, two police cars passed the flaming house but never bothered to stop. What happened to civic duty and responsibility? Has society totally turned its back on the idea of neighbors helping neighbors; or is there an alternate explanation for these events? What exactly was happening here?
Answer: As Irene and her neighbors looked out of their respective windows, they all saw the two large trucks were actually fire engines carrying about a dozen firemen. They obviously had come with permission from the owner of the abandoned farmhouse, to perform a training exercise on fire fighting techniques (Irene and her neighbors had received notification from the fire company of this planned exercise earlier that same week). After the firemen started the building on fire, they proceeded to practice their skills in putting out the blaze. The police cars who passed the fire saw the firefighters were training, as they also had been notified of this planned fire at the start of their shift. The owner of the building got rid of his old farmhouse, and gave the fire company some needed practice, providing a win-win situation.
Riddle: A bizarre ritual occurs, often when the weather is hot, and it has been happening for over 100 years. Two men bring two cups to a place where a large plate is located. They do not drink anything from their cups and eat nothing from the plate. Soon, a third man joins the other two, and he brings with him his cup and a wooden object. Strangely, two of the three men wear masks, despite the fact all three of them know each other. Over the next two to three hours, only one of the men remains near the large plate, while various other men continue to take their cups and wooden objects to and from their meeting place with the other two men. Just what is this strange ritual?
Answer: The two masked men are the home plate umpire and the two catchers taking turns coming to the plate. One at a time, the hitters from both sides come to the plate to hit. All the players and the umpire always wear protective cups.
Riddle: My little circle of friends here, getting bumped off one-by-one, reminds me of Agatha Christie's famous murder mystery "Ten Little Indians", where a small group of people are knocked off, one at a time, until only the killer and one person is left. The main difference is that in Christie's novel, the last survivor was to die by hanging, but in my situation, the sole survivor will be given "The Chair"! Should this person call the police? Is there a life-and-death scenario going on here, or is everyone's safety assured? What exactly is happening?
Answer: The person, along with a small group of their friends, is engaged in a game of Musical Chairs. "The Chair" is always reserved for the last person left.
Riddle: Shirley grew up in a family that loved desserts ------ especially one dessert! Many arguments occurred during dessert time in Shirley's family, and on a few occasions, these disputes nearly led to blows. The person serving the dessert was usually the one accused of creating the contentious atmosphere. The accusations usually centered around the color distribution allotted to each family member. People were always o.k. with the amount of orange, white, light green, and yellow they received, but the distribution of the red was always a major point of contention. God help anyone who dared to pass out more of the red part of the dessert to any one person sitting at the table, for if they did, all hell would break loose! It's amazing to think a simple canned desert could cause such an uproar, but it did, and in certain families, still does today. What is this common dessert which caused such a commotion in Shirley's family?
Answer: Fruit cocktail. If the red cherry pieces are not evenly distributed, people sometimes get upset. The Del Monte company actually had to add a separate can to their lineup of fruit cocktails to appease their customers due to this problem. They call it Very Cherry, and it contains more cherries than their original can.
Riddle: In the home where Mabel resides, she has a reputation for walking very slowly, even though she is only 40 years old. Her slowness doesn't appear to be related to arthritis or to other medical ailments, but is more likely due to heredity, as her parents both had the same condition. Mabel does not use a walker or a cane to move about, and a wheelchair would be out of the question. Mabel is an extreme introvert who basically stays in her home 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Although it sounds a bit strange, you could say, even when Mabel leaves her home --- she stays at home. Although she frequently leaves the front door to her home open, she is easily frightened, causing her to immediately shut that front door when she feels threatened in any way. Mabel's caretakers frequently laugh at her and sometimes point their fingers at her as she struggles to move along. The caretakers allow Mabel only small rations of food and water each day, and they never give her a shower. Where are the abuse investigators? Where is the justice? Or are things not as bad as they appear to be for Mabel?
Answer: Mabel is a Box Turtle who is the house pet of a family with several children. She is well cared for, but instinctively closes the front door of her shell and pulls her legs in if she senses danger, which includes inquisitive children.