The Sheep’s Will

A farmer dies leaving a will dividing his flock of nineteen sheep with the following ratios:

Half to his oldest son, a quarter to the middle son and one fifth to his youngest son.

Without cutting any sheep up, how did the executor of the will fulfill the farmer’s wishes?

The executor went to the neighbouring farm and asked to borrow a sheep for a few minutes. Then he returned to the sons and said, “Half of the (now) twenty sheep is 10. A quarter of the twenty sheep is 5. A fifth of the twenty sheep is 4. 10 + 5 + 4 = 19. Then the executor took the borrowed 20th sheep back to the neighbour.

Thanks to Annette for sending this in.

Posted in Brain Teasers

Rodents and Owls

Find the two palindromes described below. (A palindrome is a word or phrase that’s spelled the same backwards as forwards, such as Was it a bat I saw?)
Question asked by a person afraid of rodents:

___ __ _ ___ _ ___

Said by an owl on a muggy day:

___ ___ __ ____

Was it a rat I saw?
Too hot to hoot

Posted in Brain Teasers

Count to A

If you were to spell out the numbers, how far would you have to go before encountering the letter A?

One thousand (or one hundred and one, depending on how you pronounce it).

Posted in Brain Teasers

Leaves That Don’t Fall

I have wood but no bark,
And leaves that don’t fall,
I am made up of branches,
and come in sizes of all.

I am completely devoured many times,
over and over by a worm of a kind.
If you want to know the answer of mine,
look for the secret that I’ve stored inside.

What am I?

A library or bookstore.

Posted in Riddles
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Seen in the Water

I am seen in the water
If seen in the sky,
I am in the rainbow,
A jay’s feather,
And lapis lazuli.

Blue.

Posted in Riddles

Horses, Sleep and Dreams

What do horses, sleep and dreams have in common?

Nightmares.

Posted in Riddles

After the Tenth One

After the tenth one it didn’t matter that he came from an ethnic minority. Who was it?

Moses from the Bible. The Pharaoh wouldn’t release the ill-treated Israelites (an ethnic minority) from slavery until being visited by ten plagues.

Posted in Riddles

Pronounced Right or Wrong

What word when pronounced wrong is right but when pronounced right is wrong?

The answer is the word “wrong”. When it’s pronounced “wrong” (rhyming with song) that’s the correct pronunciation. However, if you were to pronounce the word as “right” (rhyming with night) that would be an incorrect pronunciation and be wrong.

Posted in Riddles

To Protect Our King From A Foe’s Attack

The eight of us go forth not back to protect our king from a foe’s attack. What are we?

Pawns in a chess game. There are eight pawns and they are only permitted to move forward, not backward and the primary objective in chess is to protect the king.

Posted in Riddles

Sounds Nothing Like the Word

When pronounced, it sounds nothing like the word.

A sentence.

By Sef Daystrom

Posted in Riddles