The Daily Riddle

What comes once in a minute,
Twice in a moment,
But never in a thousand years?

What goes up the chimney down,
But can’t go down the chimney up?

Little Nancy Etticoat in a white petticoat and a red nose,
The longer she lives the shorter she grows.

Make of me nothing – and nothing fits me,
Make of me something – and something I’ll be.

Something dead sits on something alive,
That sits on something dead,
That sits on something alive,
That stands on something dead,
That sits on something alive.

Two brothers we are,
Great burdens we bear,
By which we are bitterly pressed;
The truth is to say
We are full all the day
And empty when we go to rest.

What is put on a table, cut, but never eaten?

Light as a feather with nothing in it,
A strong man can’t hold it
Much more than a minute.

In marble halls as white as milk,
Lined with skin as soft as silk,
Within a fountain crystal clear
A golden apple does appear.
No doors there are to this stronghold
Yet thieves break in and steal the gold.

Every dawn begins with me,
At dusk I’ll be the first you see,
And daybreak couldn’t come without
What midday centers all about.
Daises grow from me, I’m told
And when I come, I end all cold,
But in the sun I won’t be found,
Yet still, each day I’ll be around.