I make castles that vanish, but I do not make washing up easy. People often watch the flow of time with me.

I start and I end, yet I’m part of a tale, I follow the story, though sometimes I fail. I’m numbered or named, I turn with each page, I mark a new moment, a scene, or a stage.

To capture me is a child's game. To play for me is a sportsman's game. To plant me is a politician's game. What am I?

I protected secrets, but also swim in the water in cold lands. When all of us are removed, to the sound of trumpets, they say the world shall end.

I am born from a plant, but I do not come from above it. You feel me when you dig in the dirt.