Riddles in the Downs

[Galadriel55]

Originally Posted by Pervinca Took

Durin on a horse?

Very very close. Wrong dwarf.

[Pervinca Took]

Gimli on a horse. You said it was Third Age, I remember. I just thought that I'd already said Gimli on Arod, so it wouldn't be that.

[Firefoot]

lol, I think I know.

[Pervinca Took]

Unless it's Gimli perched on Bill The Pony as they descend Caradhras. But Bill didn't go to war, and Gimli isn't exactly going to war at that point.

[Firefoot]

Okay, I didn't want to snipe the thread if I'm right, plus I'm not sure I'm clever enough to compose a new riddle, but:

Eomer to Gimli: "My horse Firefoot will bear us both."

[Galadriel55]

Originally Posted by Pervinca Took

Gimli on a horse.

Bravo!

The two closest answers prior to this was the Gimli on Arod answer and the Rohan flag answer. I invite you to recall a somewhat different quote (though good find and good try, Firefoot! The quote was a witty answer, albeit not the one I was looking for. Let this not deter you from doing more riddles!):

But he chose a cap of iron and leather that fitted well upon his round head; and a small shield he also took. It bore the running horse, white upon green, that was the emblem of the House of Eorl.
'May it keep you well!' said Théoden. 'It was made for me in Thengel's day, while still I was a boy.'
Gimli bowed. 'I am proud, Lord of the Mark, to bear your device,' he said. 'Indeed sooner would I bear a horse than be borne by one. I love my feet better. But, maybe, I shall come yet where I can stand and fight.'

Here is the full explanation:

A four-legged creature
Of the green field - a horse
Serves two-legged creature
Of the grey stone. - Gimli the Dwarf

They walk together in war; - indeed, as Gimli carries his shield with the Rohan emblem during the main battles
In peace each runs his own way. - it's a hard task, getting a Dwarf to ride a horse
Who's the Two? Who's the Four?
Can you say? - certainly, as Pervinca did.


The reason I had an issue with the answers for horses was that it's not a specific horse, like I mentioned somewhere, but just the animal. Maybe I was too nitpicky. But well done, Pervinca! The floor is yours!

[Pervinca Took]

Nice quotation! And nice logic. I don't think I really solved it, because I didn't realise/remember Gimli's shield. 'Gimli and a horse' is the answer really, and I said 'Gimli on a horse.'

So Gimli would rather bear a horse than be borne by one? I can imagine an Erebor version of the Highland Games: horse-carrying in the place of caber-tossing! Only the toughest, strongest dwarves would be allowed to enter!

Would someone else like to take the floor? I don't really have time to compose a riddle and check the thread for the next couple of days.

[Ivriniel]

Originally Posted by Pervinca Took

Nice quotation! And nice logic. I don't think I really solved it, because I didn't realise/remember Gimli's shield. 'Gimli and a horse' is the answer really, and I said 'Gimli on a horse.'

So Gimli would rather bear a horse than be borne by one? I can imagine an Erebor version of the Highland Games: horse-carrying in the place of caber-tossing! Only the toughest, strongest dwarves would be allowed to enter!

Would someone else like to take the floor? I don't really have time to compose a riddle and check the thread for the next couple of days.

Hi Pervinca Yes, okay, I'm happy to

[Ivriniel]

Tall One, Handsome One, comely so we see
yet Children, some would say, both can and cannot be begot of He
Lofty Lord to Those, yet not so to These, why say three times three?
1200 times the Summer of the Sun - some would say disease
Arousal then, the Might of Men, Surrender to Elven Vanity
Yet it seems such fun, and such splendour for the Elven Tree,
because, odd is the even of 300 and why does this mean 1500 for every--one!
Disease again, yet, nay still not seen by anyone
and still not even for ninety summer suns beyond the 1500 for everyone
But look again--tall ships and tall kings--and again--three times three--
What Orc would put that upon a pike? Nay, this cannot be!
Is it not a head, for of the body it was, of Elven Vanity
Who of course, is that supposed to mean?
Can someone explain this to me?
So why say 'it's the gate into the day, not dawned, beyond the night'?
And then, what brought they from the foundered land?
Over the flowing sea?
Nay--not yet seven stars and seven stones
and Nay -- not yet one white tree

[Ivriniel]

ps - I dunno if I over or under-pitched it. Is it too obscure, or too easy? Seemed easy and obvious when I wrote it, but I re-read it five hours later and I'm like 'erm...maybe it's too hard'.

I'll give clues if it's too hard It was fun to write tho

[Ivriniel]

I'll just move this to the new page and do a quick sum up of what's been figured out.

Originally Posted by Ivriniel

Tall One, Handsome One, comely so we see
yet Children, some would say, both can and cannot be begot of He
Lofty Lord to Those, yet not so to These, why say three times three?
1200 times the Summer of the Sun - some would say disease
Arousal then, the Might of Men, Surrender to Elven Vanity
Yet it seems such fun, and such splendour for the Elven Tree,
because, odd is the even of 300 and why does this mean 1500 for every--one!
Disease again, yet, nay still not seen by anyone
and still not even for ninety summer suns beyond the 1500 for everyone
But look again--tall ships and tall kings--and again--three times three--
What Orc would put that upon a pike? Nay, this cannot be!
Is it not a head, for of the body it was, of Elven Vanity
Who of course, is that supposed to mean?
Can someone explain this to me?
So why say 'it's the gate into the day, not dawned, beyond the night'?
And then, what brought they from the foundered land?
Over the flowing sea?
Nay--not yet seven stars and seven stones
and Nay -- not yet one white tree

1. Pitchwife pegged the numbers as about The Tale of the Years and the pike thing is Celebrimbor's head on a pike.
2. Tho Pervinca has not quite the right identity for the 'He' in naming Aule, what he got right was that the 'He' in the riddle has/operates under the same 'portfolio' of expertise as Aule--crafting/manship. I'll add here that Aule's Dwarves were borne of Love of Eru even tho they also, it might be said, were begot of Vanity. Eru spared the Dwarves for love. But, love was not always the prime directive of other crafts of Vanity.

So - a 'He' of Aulie's domain, yet not Aule, --master craftsperson-- who, metaphorically can and cannot beget 'progeny' (metaphor) as can Eru.

I'm looking for responses, especially, to the particular questions in the riddle cheers everyone