n, no matter whether they happened
to be of a metaphysical, philosophical, mathematical, or mechanical kind.
It grew into an absorbing passion with them, and as I have shown above,
in the case of the Abbot this passion was strong even in death.

It would seem that the words "puzzle," "problem," "enigma," etc., did not
occur in their vocabulary. They were accustomed to call every poser a
"riddle," no matter whether it took the form of "Where was Moses when the
light went out?" or the Squaring of the Circle. On one of the walls in
the refectory were inscribed the words of Samson, "I will now put forth
a riddle to you," to remind the brethren of what was expected of them,
and the rule was that each monk in turn should propose some riddle weekly
to the community, the others being always free to cap it with another if
disposed to do so. Abbot David was, undoubtedly, the puzzle genius of the
monastery, and everybody naturally bowed to his decision. Only a few of
the Abbey riddles have been preserved, and I propose to select those that
seem most interesting. I shall try to make the conditions of the puzzles
perfectly clear, so that the modern reader may fully understand them, and
be amused in trying to find some of the solutions.

41.--_The Riddle of the Fish-pond._

[Illustration]

At the bottom of the Abbey meads was a small fish-pond where the monks
used to spend many a contemplative hour with rod and line. One day, when
they had had very bad luck and only caught twelve fishes amongst them,
Brother Jonathan suddenly declared that as there was no sport that day
he would put forth a riddle for their entertainment. He thereupon took
twelve fish baskets and placed them at equal distances round the pond, as
shown in our illustration, with one fish in each basket.

"Now, gentle anglers," said he, "rede me this riddle of the Twelve
Fishes. Start at any basket you like, and, always going in one direction
round the pond, take up one fish, pass it over two other fishes, and
place it in the next basket. Go on again; take up another single fish,
and, having passed that also over two fishes, place it in a basket; and
so continue your journey. Six fishes only are to be removed, and when
these have been placed, there should be two fishes in each of six
baskets, and six baskets empty. Which of you merry wights will do this in
such a manner that you shall go round the pond as few times as possible?"

I will explain to the reader