The Canterbury Puzzles Part 23

"Some here have asked me," continued Sir Hugh, "how they may find the cell in the Dungeon of the Death's-head wherein the n.o.ble maiden was cast. Beshrew me! but 'tis easy withal when you do but know how to do it.

In attempting to pa.s.s through every door once, and never more, you must take heed that every cell hath two doors or four, which be even numbers, except two cells, which have but three. Now, certes, you cannot go in and out of any place, pa.s.sing through all the doors once and no more, if the number of doors be an odd number. But as there be but two such odd cells, yet may we, by beginning at the one and ending at the other, so make our journey in many ways with success. I pray you, albeit, to mark that only one of these odd cells lieth on the outside of the dungeon, so we must perforce start therefrom. Marry, then, my masters, the n.o.ble demoiselle must needs have been wasting in the other."

The drawing will make this quite clear to the reader. The two "odd cells"

are indicated by the stars, and one of the many routes that will solve the puzzle is shown by the dotted line. It is perfectly certain that you must start at the lower star and end at the upper one; therefore the cell with the star situated over the left eye must be the one sought.

35.--_The Archery b.u.t.t._

[Ill.u.s.tration]

"It hath been said that the proof of a pudding is ever in the eating thereof, and by the teeth of Saint George I know no better way of showing how this placing of the figures may be done than by the doing of it.

Therefore have I in suchwise written the numbers that they do add up to twenty and three in all the twelve lines of three that are upon the b.u.t.t."

I think it well here to supplement the solution of De Fortibus with a few remarks of my own. The nineteen numbers may be so arranged that the lines will add up to any number we may choose to select from 22 to 38 inclusive, excepting 30. In some cases there are several different solutions, but in the case of 23 there are only two. I give one of these.

To obtain the second solution exchange respectively 7, 10, 5, 8, 9, in the ill.u.s.tration, with 13, 4, 17, 2, 15. Also exchange 18 with 12, and the other numbers may remain unmoved. In every instance there must be an even number in the central place, and any such number from 2 to 18 may occur. Every solution has its complementary. Thus, if for every number in the accompanying drawing we subst.i.tute the difference between it and 20, we get the solution in the case of 37. Similarly, from the arrangement in the original drawing, we may at once obtain a solution for the case of 38.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

36.--_The Donjon Keep Window._

In this case Sir Hugh had greatly perplexed his chief builder by demanding that he should make a window measuring one foot on every side and divided by bars into eight lights, having all their sides equal. The ill.u.s.tration will show how this was to be done. It will be seen that if each side of the window measures one foot, then each of the eight triangular lights is six inches on every side.

"Of a truth, master builder," said De Fortibus slyly to the architect, "I did not tell thee that the window must be square, as it is most certain it never could be."

37.--_The Crescent and the Cross._

"By the toes of St. Moden," exclaimed Sir Hugh de Fortibus when this puzzle was brought up, "my poor wit hath never shaped a more cunning artifice or any more bewitching to look upon. It came to me as in a vision, and ofttimes have I marvelled at the thing, seeing its exceeding difficulty. My masters and kinsmen, it is done in this wise."

[Ill.u.s.tration]

The worthy knight then pointed out that the crescent was of a particular and somewhat irregular form--the two distances _a_ to _b_ and _c_ to _d_ being straight lines, and the arcs _ac_ and _bd_ being precisely similar.

He showed that if the cuts be made as in Figure 1, the four pieces will fit together and form a perfect square, as shown in Figure 2, if we there only regard the three curved lines. By now making the straight cuts also shown in Figure 2, we get the ten pieces that fit together, as in Figure 3, and form a perfectly symmetrical Greek cross. The proportions of the crescent and the cross in the original ill.u.s.tration were correct, and the solution can be demonstrated to be absolutely exact and not merely approximate.

I have a solution in considerably fewer pieces, but it is far more difficult to understand than the above method, in which the problem is simplified by introducing the intermediate square.

38.--_The Amulet._

The puzzle was to place your pencil on the A at the top of the amulet and count in how many different ways you could trace out the word "Abracadabra" downwards, always pa.s.sing from a letter to an adjoining one.

A B B R R R A A A A C C C C C A A A A A A D D D D D D D A A A A A A A A B B B B B B B B B R R R R R R R R R R A A A A A A A A A A A

"Now, mark ye, fine fellows," said Sir Hugh to some who had besought him to explain, "that at the very first start there be two ways open: whichever B ye select, there will be two several ways of proceeding (twice times two are four); whichever R ye select, there be two ways of going on (twice times four are eight); and so on until the end. Each letter in order from A downwards may so be reached in 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, etc., ways. Therefore, as there be ten lines or steps in all from A to the bottom, all ye need do is to multiply ten 2's together, and truly the result, 1024, is the answer thou dost seek."

39.--_The Snail on the Flagstaff._

Though there was no need to take down and measure the staff, it is undoubtedly necessary to find its height before the answer can be given.

It was well known among the friends and retainers of Sir Hugh de Fortibus that he was exactly six feet in height. It will be seen in the original picture that Sir Hugh's height is just twice the length of his shadow.

Therefore we all know that the flagstaff will, at the same place and time of day, be also just twice as long as its shadow. The shadow of the staff is the same length as Sir Hugh's height; therefore this shadow is six feet long, and the flagstaff must be twelve feet high. Now, the snail, by climbing up three feet in the daytime and slipping back two feet by night, really advances one foot in a day of twenty-four hours. At the end of nine days it is three feet from the top, so that it reaches its journey's end on the tenth day.

The reader will doubtless here exclaim, "This is all very well; but how were we to know the height of Sir Hugh? It was never stated how tall he was!" No, it was not stated in so many words, but it was none the less clearly indicated to the reader who is sharp in these matters. In the original ill.u.s.tration to the donjon keep window Sir Hugh is shown standing against a wall, the window in which is stated to be one foot square on the inside. Therefore, as his height will be found by measurement to be just six times the inside height of the window, he evidently stands just six feet in his boots!

40.--_Lady Isabel's Casket._

The last puzzle was undoubtedly a hard nut, but perhaps difficulty does not make a good puzzle any the less interesting when we are shown the solution. The accompanying diagram indicates exactly how the top of Lady Isabel de Fitzarnulph's casket was inlaid with square pieces of rare wood (no two squares alike) and the strip of gold 10 inches by a quarter of an inch. This is the only possible solution, and it is a singular fact (though I cannot here show the subtle method of working) that the number, sizes, and order of those squares are determined by the given dimensions of the strip of gold, and the casket can have no other dimensions than 20 inches square. The number in a square indicates the length in inches of the side of that square, so the accuracy of the answer can be checked almost at a glance.

Sir Hugh de Fortibus made some general concluding remarks on the occasion that are not altogether uninteresting to-day.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

"Friends and retainers," he said, "if the strange offspring of my poor wit about which we have held pleasant counsel to-night hath mayhap had some small interest for ye, let these matters serve to call to mind the lesson that our fleeting life is rounded and beset with enigmas. Whence we came and whither we go be riddles, and albeit such as these we may never bring within our understanding, yet there be many others with which we and they that do come after us will ever strive for the answer.

Whether success do attend or do not attend our labour, it is well that we make the attempt; for 'tis truly good and honourable to train the mind, and the wit, and the fancy of man, for out of such doth issue all manner of good in ways unforeseen for them that do come after us."

THE MERRY MONKS OF RIDDLEWELL

41.--_The Riddle of the Fish-pond._

Number the fish baskets in the ill.u.s.tration from 1 to 12 in the direction that Brother Jonathan is seen to be going. Starting from 1, proceed as follows, where "1 to 4" means, take the fish from basket No. 1 and transfer it to basket No. 4:--

1 to 4, 5 to 8, 9 to 12, 3 to 6, 7 to 10, 11 to 2, and complete the last revolution to 1, making three revolutions in all. Or you can proceed this way:--

4 to 7, 8 to 11, 12 to 3, 2 to 5, 6 to 9, 10 to 1.

It is easy to solve in four revolutions, but the solutions in three are more difficult to discover.