Riddles of the Wild

2. A shadow that glides over sand in the sea, with a tail you’d be wise not to anger in me.
3. Square, as a box, is the gift I leave, and tunnels I carve that you wouldn’t believe.
4. Forever, a child in the watery deep, my gills never vanish though life takes a leap.
6. I dine on green stalks with a calm, lazy grace, black patches of ink circle eyes on my face.
8. My lantern glows without flame or spark, a wandering star in the summer dark.
11. A bird I am, yet flight’s not my way; my helmeted head keeps danger at bay.
13. I borrow the colors of leaves and of sky, yet paintbrush and palette I never apply.
14. Thunder on land is the sound of my run, a shaggy-front giant beneath the western sun.
16. I sing through the treetops and swing without fear, my long arms the secret that pulls me so near.
19. A mountain that moves with a trumpet’s loud call, my memory’s famed and my trunk tops them all.
20. Silent as snowfall with ear-tufted pride, I watch with eyes that never hide.

1. Eight legs I share with a weaver of silk, yet my size and my fur test your courage and will.
5. A puzzle of pieces from creatures you know: a bill, some fur, and eggs I lay, although I’m no bird.
7. Touch me gently—no, perhaps think twice. My coat is made of tiny spikes.
9. I fall from the heavens like an arrow released, striking my target with lightning-like speed.
10. I wear my armor day and night, but never march into a fight.
12. Eight arms I wield though I’m not in a fight, vanish in clouds when escaping from sight.
15. I drift like a rider but gallop nowhere, and fathers—not mothers—my young often bear.
17. A unicorn’s horn you may think I display, but mine grows from a mouth, not a brow far away.
18. Leopard A ghost on the mountains, I tread without sound, my paws leave a whisper of tracks on the ground.