MISCELLANEOUS PUZZLES
88.—
The Eccentric Market-woman.
Mrs. Covey, who keeps a little poultry farm in Surrey, is one of
the most eccentric women I ever met. Her manner of doing
business is always original, and sometimes quite weird and wonderful.
In our illustration she is seen explaining to a few of her choice
friends how she had disposed of her day's eggs. She had evidently
got the idea from an old puzzle with which we are all familiar, but
it is such an improvement on it that I have no hesitation in pre-
senting it to my readers. She related that she had that day taken
a certain number of eggs to market. She sold half of them to one
customer, and gave him half an egg over. She next sold a third of
what she had left, and gave a third of an egg over. She then sold
a fourth of the remainder, and gave a fourth of an egg over. Finally,
she disposed of a fifth of the remainder, and gave a fifth of an
egg over. Then what she had left she divided equally among
thirteen of her friends. And, strange to say, she had not throughout
all these transactions broken a single egg. Now, the puzzle is to
find the smallest possible number of eggs that Mrs. Covey could
have taken to market. Can you say how many ?
105
