Answer:
Before I grow I'm small. When I'm old I grow tall. When I die I give a mighty fall.
What has 4 fingers and a thumb but isn't alive?
I can sizzle like bacon. I am made from an egg. I have plenty of backbone but lack a good leg. I peel layers like onions but still remain whole. I can be long like a flagpole yet fit in a hole.
By Moon or by Sun I shall be found. Yet I am undone if there's no light around.
I start with āeā end with āeā. I have whole countries inside me. What am I?
It flows out of the soil, It burns you if it boils, And holds us in its coils, More valuable than gold, As black as it is old.