THE CANTERBURY PUZZLES
supposed to have set out on 17th April, 1387, as stated in
No. 23.
Though Chaucer made this little puzzle and recorded it for
the interest of his readers, he did not venture to propound it to his
fellow pilgrims. The puzzle that he gave them was of a
simpler kind altogether : it may be called a geographical one.
" When, in the year 1372, I did go into Italy as the envoy of
our sovereign lord King Edward the Third, and while there did
visit Francesco Petrarch, that learned poet did take me to the top of
a certain mountain in his country. Of a truth, as he did show me, a
mug will hold less liquor at the top of this mountain than in the
valley beneath. Pry thee tell me what mountain this may be
that hath so strange a property withal/' A very elementary
knowledge of geography will suffice for arriving at the correct
answer.
30.—
The Puzzle of the Canon's Yeoman,
This person joined the party on the road. " * God save,' quoth
he, ' this jolly company! Fast have I ridden,' saith he, ' for
your sake, Because I would
I might you overtake, To ride
among this merry company.' "
Of course, he was asked to
entertain the pilgrims with a
puzzle, and the one he pro-
pounded was the following.
He showed them the diamond-
shaped arrangement of letters
presented in the accompany-
ing illustration, and said, " I
do call it the rat-catcher's
riddle. In how many differ-
ent ways canst thou read the words,
'
Was it a rat I saw ? '" You
may go in any direction backwards and forwards, upwards or down-
wards, only the letters in any reading must always adjoin one
another,
30
