The Monk that went with the party was a great lover of sport. "Greyhounds
he had as swift as fowl of flight: Of riding and of hunting for the hare
Was all his love, for no cost would he spare." One day he addressed the
pilgrims as follows:--
"There is a little matter that hath at times perplexed me greatly, though
certes it is of no great weight; yet may it serve to try the wits of some
that be cunning in such things. Nine kennels have I for the use of my
dogs, and they be put in the form of a square; though the one in the
middle I do never use, it not being of a useful nature. Now the riddle is
to find in how many different ways I may place my dogs in all or any of
the outside kennels so that the number of dogs on every side of the
square may be just ten." The small diagrams show four ways of doing it,
and though the fourth way is merely a reversal of the third, it counts as
different. Any kennels may be left empty. This puzzle was evidently a
variation of the ancient one of the Abbess and her Nuns.
[Illustration]