Nursery Rhyme. CCXXVI. Riddles.

        [An egg.]

    In marble walls as white as milk,
    Lined with a skin as soft as silk;
    Within a fountain crystal clear,
    A golden apple doth appear.
    No doors there are to this strong-hold.
    Yet things break in and steal the gold.

        [Coals.]

    Black we are, but much admired;
    Men seek for us till they are tired.
    We tire the horse, but comfort man
    Tell me this riddle if you can.

        [A Cinder-sifter.]

    A riddle, a riddle, as I suppose,
    A hundred eyes, and never a nose.

        [A walnut.]

    As soft as silk, as white as milk,
    As bitter as gall, a thick wall,
    And a green coat covers me all.

        [A Bed.]

    Formed long ago, yet made to-day,
        Employed while others sleep;
    What few would like to give away,
        Nor any wish to keep.

        [A pen.]

    When I was taken from the fair body,
        They then cut off my head,
        And thus my shape was altered;
    It's I that make peace between king and king,
        And many a true lover glad:
    All this I do and ten times more,
        And more I could do still,
    But nothing can I do,
        Without my guider's will.