--- Piotr Gasiorowski <
gpiotr@...> wrote:
> Just about every nation in the world has a version
> of this tale (Simple Ivan, etc.). "The Three
> Feathers", as recorded by the Grimm Brothers,
> begins:
>
> There was once upon a time a King who had three
> sons, of whom two were clever and wise, but the
> third did not speak much and was simple, and was
> called the Simpleton ...
>
> -- and guess who got the fairest maiden and the
> crown.
>
> Piotr
******GK: And here's one version which I remember from
my highschool days. A King had three sons. He decided
to grant his kingdom to the one who would prove the
smartest. Calling his three sons together he said
this: "My sons. Here are five hats, three of them are
red and two are white. I shall put a hat on your heads
and place you together in a room. You will be able to
see your brothers' hats but not your own. The one who
comes out of the room most quickly and tells me the
colour of his hat(and why he thinks so, not guessing)
will inherit the kingdom." So the three brothers were
put together in the room. The youngest saw that his
brothers both had red hats on. No one moved for some
time. Then the youngest got up and left the room. He
went to his father and said:"I know the colour of my
hat. It is red. Because if it had been white one of my
brothers would have walked out thinking that his hat
was red because if it had been white that brother
would have said that our other brother would have
walked out seeing two white hats." And the youngest
son was declared the official heir. ******
>
>
>
>
>
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