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Tue 2 Dec, 2003 02:18 pm
After being the ruler of the forest people for a while, you get bored. So you visit an island on which two tribes of natives live. One tribe has purple soles and always lies; the other tribe has green soles and always tells the truth. There are three natives standing near you. You can't see the bottoms of their feet, and indeed you find out it is rude to look at another's soles, but you are curious so you ask the first man,
"Sir, what color are your soles?" Now he happens to understand English, but he can't speak it, so he replies in his native tongue, "Glub Glub". Though you don't speak the language, you know that "Glub Glub" either means purple or green.
You turn to the second man and ask, "Sir, what did he say?" The second man replies, "He said he has green soles."
Now to be sure, you turn to the third and ask, "Sir, what color of soles does this second man have?" The third man replies, "Sir, he has purple soles."
Now the question is, what color of soles does the third native have?
#3 is a liar, and thus has purple soles
The key is that #2 said the truth.
How is that?
#2 said # 1 said he had green soles.
If #1 is a liar, and his soles are purple, he'll say he has green soles.
If # 1 tells the truth, then his soles are green, and will state so.
Any inhabitant of the island will say he has green soles.