Black is the mother, white is the daughter
Life is their enemy, death is their friend
One never speaking, one never silent
Where one is, the other will be in the end
Who or what are they?
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$\begingroup$ Was thinking Magicicadas (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Periodical_cicadas) but "Life is their enemy death is their friend" does not seem to fit. $\endgroup$– Jonathan AllanCommented Apr 26, 2016 at 1:50
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6 Answers
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A fly/housefly, and a maggot
Black is the mother, white is the daughter
Flies are black, maggots are white
Life is their enemy, death is their friend
Humans try to squat/kill them, but flies lay their egg into dead animals, which provide food for maggots
One never speaking, one never silent
Maggots don't speak. Flies buzz all the time (with a bit of a stretch, most insects buzz, but house flies generally don't)
Where one is, the other will be in the end
The adult form of maggots are flies. And flies lay their eggs on meat, where maggots hatch from them, so if a fly is there, the maggot(s) will follow.
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Black is the mother, white is the daughter
The Raven is the mother, the daughter is a white egg
Life is their enemy, death is their friend
As immortalized in "The Raven" by Edgar Allen Poe..
One never speaking, one never silent
Its pretty quiet in the egg. And as for the bird: Caw-Caw, Caw-Caw!
Where one is, the other will be in the end
Eggs hatch!
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$\begingroup$ This is really creative! Not the intended answer, though, and line 2 is a bit of a stretch, particularly where the daughter is concerned. $\endgroup$– DLoscCommented Apr 26, 2016 at 16:31
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Perhaps:
Turkey vulture (or alternatively a Black vulture)
Black is the mother, white is the daughter
As adults they are black. The chicks of the Turkey vulture are white though. (The chicks of the Black vulture are more dark beige.)
Life is their enemy, death is their friend
They are scavengers, eating from dead animals. As long as these animals are still alive they have nothing to eat, but as soon as the animals die they'll have plenty to eat.
One never speaking, one never silent
Not sure about the first part, since the adults also make sounds. But the "one never silent" could be for the chick begging for food. As all birds, chicks begging for food try to make as much noise as possible to alert the parents.
Where one is, the other will be in the end
The chick will grow up and will one day be a mother herself.
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$\begingroup$ Good guess! As you pointed out, though, the third line is a bit of a stretch. $\endgroup$– DLoscCommented Apr 26, 2016 at 16:33
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I don't think this is the intended answer, but it works:
The night sky and the moon
Black is the mother, white is the daughter
The night sky is black, the moon is white. (Also both are often depicted as female in mythology.)
Life is their enemy, death is their friend
Most living things sleep during the night
One never speaking, one never silent
The sky is silent. The moon inspires the howls of dogs and wolves, and also chirping insects, frogs, etc. that are normally quiet when the moon is not visible.
Where one is, the other will be in the end
The moon appears in the sky, and moves across it. Where at one point the only thing that can be seen is sky, later the moon may be there.
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A black hole and a white hole.
The white hole is theoretically the daughter of a black hole.
Nothing can live around them.
A black hole absorbs everything, a white hole does not absorb anything.
The destiny of all black holes may be a white hole.
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$\begingroup$ This is an interesting concept--but it isn't what I was going for (and the third line is a bit of a stretch). $\endgroup$– DLoscCommented Apr 26, 2016 at 4:23
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$\begingroup$ @DLosc is the personification of the solution as females in the riddle significant? $\endgroup$– AbhishekCommented Apr 26, 2016 at 5:10
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Two wormhole mouths.
Black is the mother, white is the daughter
One end would be a black hole, the other (perhaps in a different universe) is a white hole.
Life is their enemy, death is their friend
They are created by the death of a star (supernova). The black hole kills/crushes any life that enters.
One never speaking, one never silent
Black holes emit no sound since they suck up any medium it could transfer through. White holes would constantly emit sound (to anyone within the atmosphere its emitting).
Where one is, the other will be in the end
The white whole is at the end of the wormhole, where the entrance is the black hole.
