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        riddles >> easy >> five pixies
        
(Message started by: lukes new shoes on Jan 21^st, 2003, 4:21am)

Title: five pixies
Post by lukes new shoes on Jan 21^st, 2003, 4:21am

my friend challenged me to make up a riddle that involved an island and some pixies and this is what i cam up with (in about 2 minutes):

five pixies live on an island, each pixie is of a different rank in pixie society. all the pixies want to leave the island but must obey the following rules
-any pixie may leave first, but after that only a pixie of a lower ranking may leave each time.
-the king pixie may only leave once all other pixies have left.

how do all the pixies get off the island?

Title: Re: five pixies
Post by BNC on Jan 21^st, 2003, 4:53am

There seems to be a contradiction in the rules. Assuming the king is the highest rank, by the first rule, he may not leave once ANY other pixie had left, let alone all of them. The problem may be solved trivially if we assume the king to be of the lowest rank, but that’s unreasonable. In addition, since the king IS a pixie, he may leave first according to rule #1.

However, I was wandering: could have meant for pixie#2 to leave 1st, then the rest in lowering rank (3,4,5), and the king leaving last?

Title: Re: five pixies
Post by James Fingas on Jan 21^st, 2003, 11:52am

Obviously the king pixie is the lowest-ranking pixie on the island. This fits in well with the modern understanding of pixie social aesthetics, pioneered by T. Niemann.

Title: Re: five pixies
Post by lukes new shoes on Jan 21^st, 2003, 4:11pm

winner