Riddle me this

      For a period of my life, riddles fascinated me. Don't know why. Maybe because of that scene in The Hobbit where Bilbo plays the riddle game with Gollum. Or maybe I just liked the mystery of them, the word play and the fun of figuring them out. What follows are some old riddles, some of which date back to the 11th century. See if you can figure them out. I'll post the answers tomorrow. (The hardest one is the last one, and it dates back to the 13th century.)

1. Beyond the sea there is an oak,
and in that oak there is a nest,
and in that nest there is an egg,
and in that egg there is a yolk
which calls together Christian folk.

2. A duck before two ducks,
a duck between two ducks,
a duck behind two ducks.

3. Little Nancy Etticoat
in a white petticoat
and a red nose;
the longer she stands,
the shorter she grows.

4. As I was going to Worcester,
I met a man from Gloucester.
I asked him where he was going,
and he told me to Gloucester
to buy something that had neither
top nor bottom, but which would hold
flesh, blood and bone.

5. There was a man made a thing
and he that made it did it bring
but he it was made for did not know
whether it was a thing or no.

6. Black within
red without
four corners
roundabout.

7. One says, "Let's go."
One says, "Let's stand."
One says, "Let's whisper."