THE CANTERBURY PUZZLES
" Of a truth it was no fault of mine," said the Sompnour next
day to the company, " and herein is methinks a riddle. Can any
tell me what number the good Wife should have used withal, and at
which pilgrim she should have begun her count so that no other than
the five men should have been counted out ? " Of course, the
point is to find the smallest number that will have the desired
effect.
17.—
The Shipmaris Puzzle.
Of this person we are told, " He knew well all the havens, as
they were, From Gothland to the Cape of Finisterre, And every
creek in Brittany and
Spain: His barque
ycleped was the
Mag-
dalen."
The strange
puzzle in navigation that
he propounded was as
follows.
" Here be a chart,"
quoth the Shipman, " of
five islands, with the
inhabitants of which I
do trade. In each year
my good ship doth sail
over every one of the
ten courses depicted
thereon, but never may
she pass along the same
course twice in any year. Is there any among the company who
can tell me in how many different ways I may direct the
Magdalen s
ten yearly voyages, always setting out from the same island ?
18.—
The Monies Puzzle.
The Monk that went with the party was a great lover of sport.
" Greyhounds he had as swift as fowl of flight : Of riding and of
hunting for the hare Was all his love, for no cost would he spare."
One day he addressed the pilgrims as follows :—
16
/%:1...
v
S> 1
* * ii
•
*
•
^
• y i
*
*
I^CLHART
OP
ye MA^BAlf-tJ-
