A Tangled Tale

Excerpt: ... between six and seven of the clock. Now mark me! For every five minutes that had fled since six of the clock when we stood on yonder peak, so many miles had we toiled upwards on the dreary mountainside!" The youth moaned and rushed into the hostel. Blithe. 83 The elder and the younger knight, They sallied forth at three; How far they went on level ground It matters not to me; What time they reached the foot of hill, When they began to mount, Are problems which I hold to be Of very small account. The moment that each waved his hat Upon the topmost peak- To trivial query such as this No answer will I seek. Yet can I tell the distance well They must have travelled o'er: On hill and plain, 'twixt three and nine, The miles were twenty-four. Four miles an hour their steady pace Along the level track, Three when they climbed-but six when they Came swiftly striding back Adown the hill; and little skill It needs, methinks, to show, Up hill and down together told, Four miles an hour they go. For whether long or short the time Upon the hill they spent, Two thirds were passed in going up, One third in the descent. Two thirds at three, one third at six, If rightly reckoned o'er, Will make one whole at four-the tale Is tangled now no more. Simple Susan. Money Spinner. 84 ANSWERS TO KNOT II. § 1. The Dinner Party. Problem.-"The Governor of Kgovjni wants to give a very small dinner party, and invites his father's brother-in-law, his brother's father-in-law, his father-in-law's brother, and his brother-in-law's father. Find the number of guests." Answer.-"One." In this genealogy, males are denoted by capitals, and females by small letters. The Governor is E and his guest is C. Ten answers have been received. Of these, one is wrong, Galanthus Nivalis Major , who insists on inviting two guests, one being the Governor's wife's brother's father. If she had taken his sister's husband's father instead, she would have found it possible...