Eight of us go fourth, not back, to protect our king from an attack. What are we?

Its something that each of us devours,
Not just us but birds, beats, trees, and flowers,
Frets iron and nibbles steel,
Toil hard stones to meal,
Exterminates king, collapse town,
And blows the mountains down.

The great emperor Akbar once ruled India. He was well known for his intelligence. But along with that, he was known for the Nine Gems in his court. One of the nine gems was Birbal, a quick witted and extremely intelligent man. The stories of his wit were widely popular.

Once a king ruling in a distant land heard of Birbal. To check his wit, he sent an invitation and called him to visit his land. Akbar allowed Birbal to go and he took off on the journey.

Upon reaching that kings kingdom, he was welcomed with flowers. He was then escorted to the palace of the king. Upon entering the palace, Birbal found that there were six people sitting in front of him adorning the same robe. They were also lookalike and it was hard to judge who the real king was.

After a couple of minutes, Birbal approached one of them and bowed in front of him greeting him.

That was the real king. How did Birbal know who was the real king ?

Your last good ping-pong ball fell into a narrow metal pipe embedded one foot deep in concrete.
How can you get it out undamaged, if all the tools you have are your tennis paddle, shoe laces, and plastic water bottle, which does not fit into the pipe?

You have a square. What you have to do is cut and reassemble the square such that you create a Red Cross sign that has the same volume as that of the square.

In the picture given below, can you find out which digit will take place of the question mark?

Two guards were on duty outside a barracks. One faced up the road to watch for anyone approaching from the North. The other looked down the road to see if anyone approached from the South. Suddenly one of them said to the other, "Why are you smiling?"

How did he know his companion was smiling?

'S' refers to the number of seconds in a day and 'H' refers to the number of hours in ten years. Which quantity out of these two is greater?

My grandson is about as many days as my son in weeks, and my grandson is as many months as I am in years. My grandson, my son and I together are 120 years. Can you tell me my age in years ?

A crime was committed at baker street. Ibrahim Dakota who was shot in the stomach was the main suspect. Sherlock questioned the suspect. The conversation started as:
Sherlock: What's your story, Ibrahim?
Ibrahim: I was walking around baker street and suddenly a man from the back shot me. I ran as fast as I could to save my life".
Sherlock: That is enough (and ask the police to arrest him).

Why does Sherlock think he is the murderer?