"My boat is on the shore."
BYRON.
This is another mediæval class of puzzles. Probably the earliest example
was by Abbot Alcuin, who was born in Yorkshire in 735 and died at Tours
in 804. And everybody knows the story of the man with the wolf, goat,
and basket of cabbages whose boat would only take one of the three at a
time with the man himself. His difficulties arose from his being unable
to leave the wolf alone with the goat, or the goat alone with the
cabbages. These puzzles were considered by Tartaglia and Bachet, and
have been later investigated by Lucas, De Fonteney, Delannoy, Tarry, and
others. In the puzzles I give there will be found one or two new
conditions which add to the complexity somewhat. I also include a pulley
problem that practically involves the same principles.
[Illustration]