http://www.scottishstorytellingcentre.co.uk/education/SRresources/puzzlestories.pdf
Puzzle
Stories
Story
Starters
Puzzles are
little stories. As well as being good exercise for the brain, they paint
pictures in
your head.
As you are trying to solve the puzzle, your imagination makes up lots of
different
endings to the story. You become a storymaker without realising it.
See if you
can work out the solution before checking the answer!
Last Gets
All
An old
farmer called his two sons to his bedside. “I shall die soon,” he said, “and I
plan to
leave the
farm to one of you only. This is how it will be decided. On the day after I’m
buried, I
want you to take your horses to the gate, ride round the far edge of the farm
and back to
the gate again. Whoever’s horse comes in last will get the farm.” The boys
couldn’t
believe what their father had said. “Whoever’s horse comes in last!”
It wasn’t
long before the old farmer died. On the day after his funeral, the two boys
saddled up
their horses, took them to the gate and mounted. And they sat there all day
without
moving. By teatime their tummies had started to rumble. They looked at each
other and
agreed that they would have to go and ask for help. So they climbed down from
their
horses, walked into the village and through to the far end, to the house of the
Wise
Woman. The
Wise Woman invited them in and gave them tea and biscuits. Then she
listened to
their problem.
“The old
man said that whoever’s horse comes in last will get the farm. What shall we
do?”
The Wise
Woman pondered for a couple of seconds, then she said two words to the boys.
When they
heard these words, the boys dashed out of the house, raced down the street,
leapt on to
their horses, and were off like the wind.
What were
the Wise Woman’s two words?
A: Her
words were, “Change Horses”. The father said whoever’s horse came in last would
get the
farm. So if your brother is riding your horse and you beat him, your horse will
come in
last.
How Many
Children?
As I was
walking down the street, a woman with lots of children was coming towards me.
“You must
have about twenty children,” I said.
She
replied, “If I had twice as many as I have got, and half as many again, I would
have
twenty.”
How many
children did she have?
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materials © Scottish Storytelling Centre 2007 W
www.scottishstorytellingcentre.co.uk T 0131 652 3272
A: eight
The Tale of the Legs
Four legs
comes into the room, and takes one leg off three legs.
Two legs
comes in, picks up three legs, and throws it at five legs.
Four legs
drops one leg and runs away.
What on
earth is going on?
Answer: a
dog (four legs), comes in and takes a leg of meat (one leg) from
an old-fashioned three-legged stool. A man or woman (two legs) comes in
and throws the stool at the dog (who has the leg of meat in his mouth, and so
becomes five legs). The dog drops the leg of meat and runs away.
The Great Escape
A man is in
a room which has walls, floor and ceiling made entirely out of concrete. There
are no
doors or windows, and the only object in it is a table.
How does he
escape?
Answer: the
man bangs his head on the concrete wall until it’s sore (saw). He takes the
saw and
cuts the table in half. Two halves make a whole (hole). He climbs out through
the
hole and
shouts until he’s hoarse (horse), jumps on the horse and rides away. (You need
to say this
aloud to make it work.)
A Fisherman’s Tale
Two fathers
and two sons went out fishing. They caught three fish. How did they divide
them up equally?
Answer:
they get one fish each. There are only three fishermen – a boy, his father, and
his
grandfather. So two of them are fathers, and two of them are sons.
How many balls of string does it take to reach
the moon?
Answer: one
– if the string is long enough.
How far can you walk into a wood?
Answer: half way – then you’re walking out of
it.
