THE CANTERBURY PUZZLES
" There is a little matter that hath at times perplexed me greatly,
though certes it is of no great weight, yet may it serve to try the
wits of some that be cunning in such things. Nine kennels have I
for the use of my dogs, and they be put in the form of a square,
though the one in the middle I do never use, it not being of a useful
nature. Now, the riddle is to find in how many different ways I
may place my dogs in all or any of the outside kennels so that the
number of dogs on every side of the square may be just ten." The
small diagrams show four ways of doing it, and though the fourth
way is merely a reversal of the third, it counts as different. Any
kennels may be left empty. This puzzle was evidently a variation of
the ancient one of the Abbess and her Nuns.
19.—
The Puzzle of the Prioress,
The Prioress, who went by the name of Eglantine, is best
remembered on account of Chaucer's remark, "And French she
spake full fair and properly, After the school of Stratford-atte-Bow,
For French of Paris was to her unknow." But our puzzle has to
do less with her character and education than with her dress.
"And thereon hung a brooch of gold full sheen, On which was
written first a crowned A." It is with the brooch that we are
17
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