Answer:
A leathery snake, with a stinging bite. I'll stay coiled up, unless I must fight.
Bright as diamonds, Loud as thunder, Never still, A thing of wonder.
My voice is tender, my waist is slender and I'm often invited to play. Yet wherever I go, I must take my bow or else I have nothing to say.
What covers its face with its hands, speaks no language, yet most known what it's saying?
Five hundred begins it, five hundred ends it. Five in the middle is seen. First of all figures, the first of all letters. Take up their stations between. Join all together, and then you will bring before you the name of an eminent king.
As round as an apple. As deep as a cup. All the king's horses can't pull it up.