Writing Resources from Fifteen Minutes of Fiction

The Riddles of Jonas

Jonas was a well travelled boy,sailing with his parents and sister on a voyage of a lifetime.A sudden squall had becalmed them on a deserted island.Jonas set off along the beach to explore whilst his parents examined their craft for damage ,and his sister gathered sea shells along the shore.

The isle was very peaceful and Jonas was enjoying his exploration when he heard a noise in the forest and a mythical creature appeared,with the body of a lion and an enigmatic human face of great beauty.Jonas was very scared as he had heard the legend of the Sphinx.He also knew the answer to the riddle the sphinx asked. what walks on four legs at dawn,two legs during the day and three legs in the evening. He answered quickly, relieved not to be devoured by the beast in front of him.

Now Jonas was a bit of an expert on riddles.He had been home schooled and liked to challenge his sister with riddles found on the internet.He decided to challenge the sphinx with five riddles,in exchange he demanded that the sphinx no longer ate any victims who could not answer his question.The sphinx was very confident that all five riddles could be solved and quickly agreed to the game of wits.

The riddles Jonas set were as follows were as follows:

I run but do not walk,I murmur but do not talk, I have a mouth but never eat.What am I?


My maker sells me,my buyer never uses me.The person who uses me never knows.What am I?

I am a word of three letters.Add two and I will be less.What am I?

I am in minutes,January,centuries but not in years or decades.What amI?

I am sweet when young,can make you very happy when middle aged and when mature can be worth a fortune,What am I?


The sphynx was only able to answer two of the riddles Jonas set so he was very happy he had saved unwary travellers from a dire fate.How many can you solve without using the internet like Jonas and me?

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