There's this town with two blacksmiths - one, a swordsmaker and the other, a shield maker. The swordsmaker's swords can slice through anything as a rule and the other guy's shields cannot be destroyed. Now they get cut up with each other for some reason and pit their wares against each other. What do you expect happens?

The thought of the sword taking an infinitely long time to cut the shield is interesting.

This is best told as a legend of an ancient bronzeworker, once displaying his wares.  He holds up a shield, a great round bronze shield and says to the gathering crowd, "This shield is indestructible.  No sword, arrow or spear can puncture it." He raps his fist against the sheild producing a solid clang.  "And this," he says, holding up a bronze tipped spear with a solid oak shaft "is the mother of all spears.  This spearhead is capable of penetrating any armour it is thrust at."  A man stands up in back and says "yes sir, but what happens when you strike your own shield with your own spear?"

In a real world scenario, the question means "are you a better spearmaker or shieldmaker?"  This is often referred to as an immovable object meeting an irrisistible force.  No one can say which will win, which is why the tournament between our two blacksmiths would be a great spectator sport, heavily gambled upon.

As for the outcome of the battle between the swordmaker and the sheildmaker?  The swordsman would wear the defender down until he could no longer carry his shield and then flay of his head.

Posted by Adam on 2005-12-22 00:11:46