THE CANTERBURY PUZZLES
Upon this island doth stand my own poor parsonage, and ye may
all see the whereabouts of the village church. Mark ye, also, that
there be eight bridges and no more over the river in my parish.
On my way to church it is my wont to visit sundry of my flock, and
in the doing thereof I do pass over every one of the eight bridges
once and no more. Can any of ye find the path, after this manner,
from the house to the church, without going out of the parish ?
Nay, nay, my friends, I do never cross the river in any boat, neither
by swimming nor wading, nor do I go underground like unto the
mole, nor fly in the air as doth the eagle ; but only pass over by the
bridges." There is a way in which the Parson might have made
this curious journey. Can the reader discover it
?
At first it seems
impossible, but the conditions offer a loophole.
26.—
The Haberdasher's Puzzle,
Many attempts were made to induce the Haberdasher, who was
of the party, to propound a puzzle of some kind, but for a long time
without success. At last, at. one of the Pilgrims' stopping-places,
he said that he would show them something that would " put their
brains into a twist like unto a bell-rope." As a matter of fact,
he was really playing off a practical joke on the company, for he was
quite ignorant of any answer to the puzzle that he set them. He
produced a piece of cloth in the shape of a perfect equilateral
triangle, as shown in the illustration, and said, " Be there any among
ye full wise in the true cutting of cloth ? I trow not. Every man
to his trade, and the scholar may learn from the varlet and the wise
man from the fool. Show me, then, if ye can, in what manner this
piece of cloth may be cut into four several pieces that may be
put together to make a perfect square."
Now some of the more learned of the company found a way of
doing it in five pieces, but not in four. But when they pressed the
Haberdasher for the correct answer he was forced to admit, after
much beating about the bush, that he knew no way of doing it
in any number of pieces. * By Saint Francis," saith he, "any
knave can make a riddle methinks, but it is for them that may
to rede it aright." For this he narrowly escaped a sound beating.
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