Over 100 Riddles for Trick-Or-Treaters

I've included here a variety of riddles that your little ones may wish to memorize before trick-or-treating. In St. Louis, trick-or-treaters must either ask a riddle, perform a magic trick or deliver some sort of stunt before expecting to be given candy. My children when they were young always memorized little jokes before trick-or-treating. They were so sweet, who could ever have resisted them?

1. Why are weary people like carriage-wheels?—Answer: Because they are tired.
2. An old woman in a red cloak was passing a field in which a goat was feeding. What strange transformation suddenly took place?—Answer: The goat turned to butter (butt her), and the woman into a scarlet runner.
3. Why does a duck go into the water?—Answer: For divers reasons.
4. Spell "blind pig" in two letters?—Answer: P G; a pig without an I.
5. Which bird can lift the heaviest weights?—Answer: The crane.
6. Why is a wise man like a pin?—Answer: He has a head and comes to a point.
7. Why may carpenters reasonably believe there is no such thing as stone?—Answer: Because they never saw it.
8. What is that which is put on the table and cut, but never eaten?—Answer: A pack of cards.
9. Why does a sculptor die horribly?—Answer: Because he makes faces and busts.
10. When does a farmer double up a sheep without hurting it?—Answer: When he folds it.
11. What lives upon its own substance and dies when it has devoured itself?—Answer: A candle.
12. Why is a dog biting his tail a good manager?—Answer: Because he makes both ends meet.
13. What thing is it that is lower with a head than without one?—Answer: A pillow.
14. Which is the left side of a plum-pudding?—Answer: That which is not eaten.
15. What letter of the alphabet is necessary to make a shoe?—Answer: The last.
16. Why is it certain that "Uncle Tom's Cabin" was not written by the hand of its reputed author?—Answer: Because it was written by Mrs. Beecher's toe (Stowe).
17. If all the seas were dried up, what would everybody say?—Answer: We haven't a notion (an ocean).
18. Why is a fishmonger never generous?—Answer: Because his business makes him sell fish (selfish).
19. What is that which works when it plays and plays when it works?—Answer: A fountain.
20. What is that from which you may take away the whole and yet there will be some remaining?—Answer: The word wholesome.
21. Why are fowls the most economical things a farmer can keep?—Answer: Because for every grain they give a peck.
22. What coin doubles its value by taking away a half of it?—Answer: Halfpenny.
23. Why is it dangerous to walk in the meadows in springtime?—Answer: Because the trees are shooting and the bulrush is out (bull rushes out).
24. Why is a vine like a soldier?—Answer: Because it is listed and has ten drills (ten-drils) and shoots.
25. Why is an opera-singer like a confectioner?—Answer: Because she deals in ice- creams (high screams).
26. If a man who is carrying a dozen glass lamps drops one, what does he become?—Answer: A lamp lighter.
27. What belongs to yourself, but is used more by your friends than by yourself?—Answer: Your name.
28. Why is a spider a good correspondent?—Answer: Because he drops a line at every post.
29. When is the clock on the stairs dangerous?—Answer: When it runs down.
30. Why is the letter "k" like a pig's tail?—Answer: Because it comes at the end of pork.
31. What is the keynote to good manners?—Answer: B natural.
32. Why is a five-pound bank-note much more profitable than five sovereigns?—Answer: Because when you put it in your pocket you double it, and when you take it out you will find it increases.
33. Why is a watch like a river?—Answer: Because it doesn't run long without winding.
34. What is that which flies high, flies low, has no feet, and yet wears shoes?—Answer: Dust.
35. When has a man four hands?—Answer: When he doubles his fists.
36. What trees has fire no effect upon?—Answer: Ashtrees; because when they are burned, they are ashes still.
37. What is the difference between a schoolmaster and an engine-driver?—Answer:
    One minds the train and the other trains the mind.
    
38. A man had twenty sick (six) sheep, and one died; how many were left?—Answer: 19.
39. What is that which everybody has seen but will never see again?—Answer:
    Yesterday.
    
40. Which is the best day for making a pancake?—Answer: Friday.
41. Which is the smallest bridge in the world?—Answer: The bridge of your nose.
42. What four letters would frighten a thief?—Answer: O I C U.
43. What is that which goes from London to York without moving?—Answer: The road.
44. Which is easier to spell—fiddle-de-dee or fiddle-de-dum?—Answer: Fiddle-de- dee, because it is spelt with more "e's."
45. When may a chair be said to dislike you?—Answer: When it can't bear you.
46. What animal took most luggage into the Ark, and which two took the least?—Answer: The elephant, who took his trunk, while the fox and the cock had only a brush and a comb between them.
47. Which of the English kings has most reason to complain of his washer- woman?—Answer: King John, when he lost his baggage in the Wash.
48. If a bear were to go into a linen-draper's shop, what would he want?—Answer:
    He would want muzzlin'.
    
49. Why is B like a hot fire?—Answer: Because it makes oil Boil.
50. If an egg were found on a music-stool, what poem would it remind you of?—Answer: "The Lay of the Last Minstrel."
51. Why is a schoolmaster like a shoe-black?—Answer: Because he polishes the understanding of the people.
52. Why was the first day of Adam's life the longest?—Answer: Because it had no
    Eve.
    
53. Why is a washerwoman like a navigator?—Answer: Because she spreads her sheets, crosses the line, and goes from pole to pole.
54. Why is an author the queerest animal in the world?—Answer: Because his tale comes out of his head.
55. Why is it that a tailor won't attend to business?—Answer: Because he is always cutting out.
56. When can a horse be sea-green in color?—Answer: When it's a bay.
57. Why were gloves never meant to sell?—Answer: Because they were made to be kept on hand.
58. When are we all artists?—Answer: When we draw a long face.
59. Why are watch-dogs bigger by night than by day?—Answer: Because they are let out at night and taken in in the morning.
60. When is a tradesman always above his business?—Answer: When he lives over his shop.
61. Which is the liveliest city in the world?—Answer: Berlin; because it's always on the Spree.
62. Why is a water-lily like a whale?—Answer: Because they both come to the surface to blow.
63. Why is a shoemaker the most industrious of men?—Answer: Because he works to the last.
64. What is book-keeping?—Answer: Forgetting to return borrowed volumes.
65. Why is scooping out a turnip a noisy process?—Answer: Because it makes it hollow.
66. Why are teeth like verbs?—Answer: Because they are regular, irregular, and defective.
67. What ships hardly ever sail out of sight?—Answer: Hardships.
68. When is an artist a dangerous person?—Answer: When his designs are bad.
    
69. Why are tortoiseshell-combs like citadels?—Answer: They are for-tresses.
70. Why is the Isthmus of Suez like the first "u" in cucumber?—Answer: Because it is between two "c's" (seas).
71. What motive led to the invention of railroads?—Answer: The locomotive.
72. When is the best time to get a fresh egg at sea?—Answer: When the ship lays to.
73. Who was the first whistler?—Answer: The wind. and What tune did he whistle?—Answer: Over the hills and far away.
    
74. Why need a traveler never starve in the desert?—Answer: Because of the sand which is (sandwiches) there.
75. Why is sympathy like blindman's buff?—Answer: Because it is a fellow feeling for a fellow creature.
76. If a Frenchman were to fall into a tub of tallow, in what word would he express his situation?—Answer: In-de-fat-i-gabble. (Indefatigable.)
77. Why is a diner on board a steam-boat like Easter Day?—Answer: Because it is a movable feast.
78. Why is a little man like a good book?—Answer: Because he is often looked over.
79. Why is a pig in a parlor like a house on fire?—Answer: Because the sooner it is put out the better.
80. What is the difference between a soldier and a bombshell?—Answer: One goes to war, the other goes to pieces.
81. Why is it dangerous to sleep in a train?—Answer: Because every train runs over all the sleepers on the line.
82. Spell "enemy" in three letters?— Answer: F O E.
83. Which is the only way that a leopard can change his spots?—Answer: By going from one spot to another.
84. Why did Eve never fear the measles?—Answer: Because she'd Adam.
85. When is a tall man a little short?—Answer: When he hasn't got quite enough cash.
86. What houses are the easiest to break into?—Answer: The houses of bald people; because their locks are few.
87. Why is a watch the most difficult thing to steal?—Answer: Because it must be taken off its guard.
88. Why is there never anybody at home in a convent?—Answer: Because it is an (n)uninhabited place.
89. Why does a person who is not good-looking make a better carpenter than one who is?—Answer: Because he is a deal plainer.
90. What plant stands for No. 4?—Answer: IV.
91. What is the best tree for preserving order?—Answer: The birch.
92. Why is shoemaking the easiest of trades?—Answer: Because the boots are always soled before they are made.
93. How can a gardener become thrifty?—Answer: By making the most of his thyme, and by always putting some celery in the bank.
94. Why is it probable that beer was made in the Ark?—Answer: Because the kangaroo went in with hops, and the bear was always bruin.
95. "What was the biggest thing you saw at the World's Fair?" asked a wife of her husband.—Answer: "My hotel bill!" said he.
96. Why is C like a schoolmistress?—Answer: Because it forms lasses into classes.
97. What is that which never asks any questions and yet requires many answers?—Answer: The street-door.
98. If a man bumped his head against the top of a room, what article of stationery would he be supplied with?—Answer: Ceiling whacks. (Sealing-wax.)
99. Which is the longest word in the English language?—Answer: Smiles; because there is a mile between the first and last letters.
100. Which is the oldest tree in England?—Answer: The Elder Tree.
101. What is that which happens twice in a moment and not once in a thousand years?—Answer: The letter M.