What has to be broken before you can use it?

A man started to town with a fox, a goose, and a sack of corn. He came to a stream which he had to cross in a tiny boat. He could only take one across at a time. He could not leave the fox alone with the goose or the goose alone with the corn. How did he get them all safely over the stream?

Two in a corner, one in a room, zero in a house, but one in a shelter. What is it?

If eleven plus two equals one, what does nine plus five equal?

I am beautiful, up in the sky. I am magical, yet I cannot fly. To people I bring luck, and to some people, riches. The boy at my end does whatever he wishes. What am I?

What is more useful when it is broken?

Begin with a word, five letters to my name,
Remove the first and last but I am the same
Take out my middle and still, I remain.
What word am I?

It comprises roots which nobody sees,
Much taller than those trees,
Up and up it goes,
Still it never grows?

I don't get anymore wetter, no matter how much rain falls on me.

A man and his wife were doing missionary work near the city of Nairobi in the country of Kenya in eastern Africa. Their housing had not yet been completed, so the man, the woman, and their six year old daughter were spending a few nights in the jungle in three small pup tents. During their third night there, the woman was awakened by the call of a hyena passing by, so she got out of her tent to see if her young daughter had been frightened by the noise. As she peered into her daughter's tent she was surprised to see the dark figures of lion, a panther, and a cheetah which were curled up next to her daughter. Seeing her daughter was asleep and unharmed, the woman slowly and quietly withdrew from the tent, and simply returned to her own tent and went back to bed. How could this child's mother leave her daughter in such a dangerous situation, and simply ignore what she had just witnessed without intervening in some way? How can such emotional coldness ever be explained; or is there something here we are missing?