Tolkien's riddles

These are from Bilbo and Gollum's riddle game. Highlight to reveal answers!





 1)
What has roots as nobody sees,
Is taller than trees,
Up, up it goes
And yet never grows?
Answer:A mountain.

 2)
Thirty white horses on a red hill,
First they champ,
Then they stamp,
Then they stand still.
Answer: Teeth in your mouth.

3)
Voiceless it cries,
Wingless flutters, 

Toothless bites,
Mouthless mutters.
Answer: The wind.

 4)
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: Sun on a field of daisies.

5)
 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.

6)
A box without hinges, key, or lid,
Yet golden treasure inside is hid.
Answer: An egg.

7)
Alive without breath,
 As cold as death;
Never thirsty, ever drinking,
 All in mail, never clinking.

Answer: A fish.

8)
 No-legs lay on one-leg,
Two-legs sat near on three-legs,
 four legs got some.

Answer: Fish on a little table, man at table sitting on a stool, the cat ate the bones.

 9)
This thing all things devours:
 Birds, trees, beasts, flowers;
 Gnaws iron, bites steel;
Grinds hard stones to meal;
Slays king, ruins town,
And beats high mountain down.
 Answer: Time.

 Interesting things to note:

-Gollum's riddles reveal something about his character and the fact he's spent 500 years in a cave... Number 5 belongs to him, for instance.

-Tolkien was a master of Old English, yet did not compose these riddles using alliterative verse. Most contemporary riddles stay away from alliterative verse (which makes sense considering they're written in modern english, which is better suited to rhyme and modern metre)

-Here is a link to a collection of illustrations of Gollum. They vary so much!