What are the answers to these riddles?

[IceMaiden]

I hope when you pop back in here the answer is a bit clearer for you now IceMaiden.
It took quite a bit of time, but eventually due to Bertie's help I got it!!

Gosh I forgot about this with all the festivities! The island one is clear now though it took some time to get it I've sort of got the other one although I'm still not quite sure how thistledown and lead can ever weigh the same but as I said riddles are not my strong point .

Here's another, from the first holiday book this time:

Why is a king like a book?

There is no answer page to this so it can't be looked up. The best I can think up is something to do with pages or crowns but goodness knows how they fit! Anyone got any suggestions?

[tix]

Because he has 'pages.'

[Boatbuilder]

You more or less gave the answer yourself, IceMaiden, in your last paragraph.

Now I wonder how many you'd had at 11-pm on New Year's Eve?

[Moonraker]

As far as the sack containing lead or thistledown is concerned, unless the sacks were identical in all respects, it's quite possible the sack of thistledown would be the heavier as the sack would likely be bigger to hold the volume of a pound and would therefore add to the overall weight. Of course that is different if you just ask the question "What is heavier, a pound of thistledown or a pound of lead?"

Actually it depends on the air pressure. If their density is equal, both have always the same weight compared with it each other under the same conditions. Most significant is it when you put a pound of lead into water - it will sink down immediately, thistledown will probaly swim on it.
You can compare the mass only in a vacuum directly, otherwise the buoyancy of the surrounding medium has to take into account.

Most interesting, Wolfgang. Always something to learn on these pages!

[IceMaiden]

Because he has 'pages.'

Nope still not getting it Do you mean a pageboy you get at a wedding?

You more or less gave the answer yourself, IceMaiden, in your last paragraph.

Now I wonder how many you'd had at 11-pm on New Year's Eve?

Absolutely none BB as I don't drink full stop!

[Anita Bensoussane]

A 'page' also refers to a boy attendant serving royalty or nobility, IceMaiden - especially in medieval times.

[IceMaiden]

Oh I didn't know that, now I've got it! Never heard of that term before for a servant!

[tix]

Thank you Anita for attending to IceMaiden's query regarding 'pages.'

I've only just noticed it.

(Jan. 21st;11.36am)

[Wolfgang]

If I remember correctly (haven't read it for more than 35 years) in Erich Kästners "Emil und die Detektive" one of the boys is or acts as a "Hotelpage" - I don't know if the English expression is hotel page.

[Anita Bensoussane]

I'm not sure where my copy of Emil and the Detectives is so I don't know how it has been translated, but I think we'd say something like "hotel porter".

[pete9012S]

I have my copy next to my bed - I can check if anyone roughly knows the chapter/page number?

[Debbie]

I think it might have been "Lift boy" or "messenger boy" in Emil. I read it to my son a couple of years ago.

[Judith Crabb]

'Bellhop' springs to mind as a boy who had to spring (or hop) to it when guests needed assistance with luggage etc. May be more common in US.

[Anita Bensoussane]

I've come across "bellhop" and "bellboy" in American books/films but I'm not sure whether those terms are ever used here.

[Splodj]

The expression 'Page' was definitely used here in hotels https://www.britishpathe.com/video/savo ... y-aka-page but I think in Emil it was a Lift Boy - who performed a different role.