An Inquisition Intolerable

The adventurer stepped down to the floor, checked his map, and made an addition. On it was proof, to those who understood, of the challenges behind him. There was not a room or passage recorded there which had not some danger from an arsenal of traps, sentinels, and possessive spirits.
Even crossing the entrance was a triumph never before achieved in all the centuries over which the bold, curious, and greedy sought hints to the location of the fabled vault sunk in the earth by a king of whom nothing still was known save for the wondrousness of his possessions. How deep the vault went and what was its extent, none knew, but he presumed when he entered a chamber with no other exit in any direction that he had reached the ultimate point.
A jumble of materials in the center stirred and coalesced into a great face which began to speak.
"The final trial for the seeker of my master's treasure is a riddle. Listen well, for but once will I ask it."
"A riddle? Never mind."
The adventurer ascended forthwith, reversed his journey, and sold his maps to someone willing to put up with that sort of nonsense.
Finis

The Puzzle at the Core

A kingdom once suffered from a terrible drought. The king sent a letter to the king of the moon, asking if he could see anything wrong with the weather from up there. The response suggested that the rainclouds he wanted were gathered around Mt. Hustis to the north.
The king went himself to investigate. The clouds there told him this: "We wish to continue on to your kingdom and other lands, but a strange creature asks a question of everyone who tries to pass, even us, turning aside those who get it wrong, as all do."
The king challenged the creature without delay, for at his side he had councilors wise in riddles.
"You wish to pass?" asked the beast, a terrible thing which had two hands, two claws, and two pincers at the end of its mighty arms, and four distinct tails beside. "Then give me the right answer. Where are my glasses? I can't find them anywhere."
"They're on that," the king said while pointing to a flat rock he had passed earlier.
"Oh, thank you. You may pass."
"I would rather the rains pass instead. But tell me, what is the use in asking clouds for help? They cannot see."
"Neither can they speak."
"Ah! That is true!" Starting then the king began to question the nature of the local clouds, leading to consequences unforseeable and widely felt.
Finis