answer to a riddle from
At the Back of the North Wind
by
George Macdonald

‘Oh! that’s easy enough,’ he returned. ‘It’s a tree.’

‘Well, it ain’t got no mouth, sure enough; but how then does it eat all day long?’

‘It sucks in its food through the tiniest holes in its leaves,’ he answered. ‘Its breath is its food. And it can’t do it except in the daylight.’

‘Thank you, sir, thank you,’ returned Diamond. ‘I’m sorry I couldn’t find it out myself; Mr Raymond would have been better pleased with me.’

‘But you needn’t tell him anyone told you.’

Diamond gave him a stare which came from the very back of the north wind, where that kind of thing is unknown.