THE MERRY MONKS OF RIDDLEWELL
persons sleeping on each side of the building, and twice as many on
the upper floor as on the lower floor. Of course every room must
be occupied, and you know my rule that not more than three
persons may occupy the same room."
I give a plan of the two floors, from which it will be seen that the
sixteen rooms are approached by a well staircase in the centre.
After the monks had solved this little problem and arranged for the
accommodation, the pilgrims arrived, when it was found that they
were three more in number than was at first stated. This
necessitated a reconsideration of the question, but the wily monks
succeeded in getting over the new difficulty, without breaking the
Abbot's rules. The curious point of this puzzle is to discover the
total number of pilgrims.
43.—The Riddle of the Tiled Hearth.
It seems that it was Friar Andrew who first managed to " rede
the riddle of the Tiled Hearth." Yet it was a simple enough little
and the Star), but plain tiles were also available. The Abbot pro-
posed that they should be laid as shown in our sketch, without any
plain tiles at all, but Brother Richard broke in—
" I trow, my Lord Abbot, that a riddle is required of me this
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