02.04.2014 Views

Which Alice?

Which Alice?

Which Alice?

SHOW MORE
SHOW LESS

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.

ALICE IN PUZZLE-LAND<br />

them told the truth, or maybe the other one did, or maybe they<br />

both did, but I can't remember which."<br />

This concluded the White Knight's account. Of all the trial<br />

accounts I have ever heard in my life, thought <strong>Alice</strong>, this is the most<br />

unsatisfactory! Yet, as <strong>Alice</strong> pondered more and more over this<br />

problem, she came to realize that despite all the White Knight's<br />

memory lapses, he had given her enough information to decide<br />

whether the first, the second, or the third defendant was guilty.<br />

<strong>Which</strong> one was guilty? (This is Problem 78.)<br />

THE SECOND ACCOUNT "Yes, I've seen some fine trials, some<br />

very fine ones!" said the Knight, after <strong>Alice</strong> had solved the last<br />

puzzle.<br />

"Tell me another," requested <strong>Alice</strong>.<br />

The puzzle which now follows is one of the best that <strong>Alice</strong> had<br />

ever heard.<br />

"Well," said the Knight, "the trial of last month was quite<br />

interesting. Again there were three defendants, and only one of<br />

them was guilty. The first defendant spoke first, then the second<br />

defendant spoke, and the third defendant spoke last."<br />

"But what did they say?" asked <strong>Alice</strong>.<br />

"I don't quite remember what they said," replied the Knight, "but<br />

I do remember that each of the defendants accused one of the<br />

others. However, I can't remember who accused whom. And now,<br />

can you figure out who was guilty?"<br />

"Of course not!" replied <strong>Alice</strong>. "So far you have told me<br />

practically nothing! Could you at least tell me which ones lied and<br />

which ones told the truth?"<br />

"Very interesting that you should have asked that," replied the<br />

Knight, "because two weeks ago I told this case to the White King,<br />

who had been unable to attend the trial. The White King asked me<br />

the very same question, and when I told him which of the three lied<br />

and which ones told the truth, he was able to deduce who the guilty<br />

one was."<br />

104

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!