Lost in the woods, you finally happen upon a rickety old bridge across a deep ravine. The ravine is too steep to go down and climb back up. You need to know if the bridge is safe. As 'luck' would have it, you recognize that on the other side of the bridge is that dreadful town, "Knight-and-Liarville". Everyone who lives there is a knight (who always tells the truth) or a liar (who always lies). You are tired and you've been lost in Knight-and-Liarville before. You see three men on the other side of the bridge.

You shout out: "Are you a knight?"

The first man says something, but you can't hear what he said.

The second man shouts, "He said he was a knight."

The third man shouts, "No, he didn't. He said he was a liar."

Which man do you ask to find out whether or not the bridge is safe?

(In reply to I think this is the answer... :-( by Penny)

That's a good point, Penny.  Popstar Dave asked "Which man do you ask to find out whether or not the bridge is safe?"  He didn't ask "Which man will tell you the truth about the bridge."

So my solution was incomplete.  You can ask the second man and believe him, or you can ask the third man and not believe him.  As long as you don't ask the first guy cuz you don't know what his deal is.

On the other hand, it says that I'm tired and I've been lost in Knight-and-Liarville before.  Taking this context, I would be inclined to only ask the second man because I would have probably used up all the brain power my tired head had left that night just trying to figure out who was what.  If I asked the third guy, I could run the risk of confusing myself in my tired state =)

Later!

Posted by nikki on 2004-03-26 10:56:58