a man has been convicted of murder. to decide whether he is guilty or not, the king will make him chooose a slip of paper. one of the papers will say guilty, the other innocent. the convict knows the king will put guilty on both slips. can he escape being chosen guilty? and if so, how?
He chooses one of the slips and tears it up, eats it, or otherwise destroys it. The king must reveal the other slip, which says "guilty." The convicts reasons that the slip he chose, which tragically cannot be read, must have said "innocent."
On his way out, he trips and bangs his head and dies anyway, but such is life.
Originally posted by Mouse2 He chooses one of the slips and tears it up, eats it, or otherwise destroys it. The king must reveal the other slip, which says "guilty." The convicts reasons that the slip he chose, which tragically cannot be read, must have said "innocent."
On his way out, he trips and bangs his head and dies anyway, but such is life.
Once the convict has torn up the slip, the king looks down at his slip and reads out "Innocent" and destroys that slip too. The convict, correctly, calls the king a liar.
"You dare to call me a liar?" splutters the king in feigned anger. Turning to the guards he says, "Execute this man immediately!"
Unless the convict turns out to be Errol Flynn (the perfect goatee beard, band of merry followers and bright green tights will give it away!), he is pretty much doomed if the king really wants him dead!
But how does the prisoner know that the King has wrote guilty on the paper? What the prisoner could do is ask him if he can do it so then it will be fair. The king might not know his suspicions and agree. He can then write innocent on both pieces of his paper and adk the king to choose one. He then has got the king at his own game. The king will probably ask to see the other paper and then then prisoner could say noooooooo you chose innocent...ner ner ner na ner ner and run out the door screaming im free.......
Originally posted by opsoccergurl11 a man has been convicted of murder. to decide whether he is guilty or not, the king will make him chooose a slip of paper. one of the papers will say guilty, the other innocent. the convict knows the king will put guilty on both slips. can he escape being chosen guilty? and if so, how?
yeah..it is.
(warning...do not read on if you are still trying to figure it out)
i had in mind that yes, he does eat one of the papers. the king, we must assume, is an evil tyrant, and of course will put guilty on both. after eating one, he picks up the other and reveals that is says guilty. then he claims thats the onw he picked must have said innocent.
Unless the convict turns out to be Errol Flynn (the perfect goatee beard, band of merry followers and bright green tights will give it away!), he is pretty much doomed if the king really wants him dead![/b]
Or, since everyone will believe he's a murderer, he can kill the king, then be sent to death for this. But, since the king is an evil tyrant, everyone will cheer him, and make him king, and marry a nice girl with dark curls (I like dark curls). This is the best solution, for him.
Originally posted by opsoccergurl11 a man has been convicted of murder. to decide whether he is guilty or not, the king will make him chooose a slip of paper. one of the papers will say guilty, the other innocent. the convict knows the king will put guilty on both slips. can he escape being chosen guilty? and if so, how?
hang on, something's amiss here: the man has been convicted of murder, and now the king is deciding if he is guilty? surely, if he's been convicted, his guilt, by definition, has already been decided?
Originally posted by dfm65 hang on, something's amiss here: the man has been convicted of murder, and now the king is deciding if he is guilty? surely, if he's been convicted, his guilt, by definition, has already been decided?
The king is quite bored at the moment, as there are no wars for him to fight and the next joust isn't for a couple of months - even the pheasants are behaving!! Therefore, he has decided that although the convict is obviously guilty, having been caught by twenty villagers murdering the butcher, the baker and the candlestick maker, he will have a little fun!! After this its down to the pond to see if the witch floats or not.
23 Jun '04 00:30
convicted murderer
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