Tales From Earth:The Rebel Pirate
The Rebel Pirate
By Jack Smith AKA Cronogenesis
Captain Crono paced up and down the deck, looking at the scallywags, each more scurvy than the last. He stared all three of them in the eyes to find a sign of weakness but not gave in to the piercing eyes. One of these men had stolen 100 Pieces of Eight from the ships hold and would suffer the punishment of walking the plank. Now like all good pirates, they stuck together until all of them would have to be let go. Two of them would be complete liars, never telling the truth to any questions, while one would tell the truth to any question. They would only answer a yes/no question and they would only answer one question each. Now if the thief was one of the liars, and you didn’t know which two pirates were lying, what question would ye ask them to find the culprit?
Solution:
You would ask 1 and 2 if 3 stole the booty. If they both answer no, 3 is the culprit. If they both answer yes then 3 is the truth teller. If this is the case you would ask number 3 if the first pirate stole the booty. If he answers yes, number 1 is the culprit. If he answers no, number 2 is the culprit.
If both pirates disagree, then one of them is telling the truth. If this is the case you would ask the third pirate (A liar) if he stole the booty. If he answers yes, then the then the pirate who originally answered yes is the culprit. If he answers no then he himself is the culprit.
