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Hardboiled, Part Twelve
Prevarication
There was no way out. Mary blocked our exit, carving knife in her hand. She didn’t look like any farmer’s wife we’d ever seen, but we weren’t going to quibble. All the other details fit and we figured we knew what was coming next.
“I’m going to ask one of you a question,” Mary said, “and I know that one of you is incapable of lying to me. So before I ask the question, you’d better tell me which one of you it is.”
We weren’t dumb. Yes, one of us always tells the truth, while the other two were perfectly capable of lying. But we’d prepared for moments like this, when someone would try to exploit our Achilles heel. So we put on our little show for her.
Sam said, “Ray is a liar.”
Ray said, “Nick is a liar.”
Nick said, “Sam and Ray are both liars!.”
Mary glared at us angrily and then her eyes narrowed. She paced up and down gesticulating with her knife. She went to run her hand through her hair and dislodged a wig, revealing long golden curls. I was just thinking to myself that she looked familiar when she pointed her knife at one of us, “All right, you–you’re the one who always tells the truth. Let me just ask you this one question…”
QUESTION: Presuming she got it right, which mouse was Mary talking to?
Answers in the comments please - we’ll approve all the comments tomorrow when we announce the answers. New to the quiz? It’s part of MOO’s third birthday celebrations!
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Sam
She’s talking to the mouse telling the story. The Narrator.
Ray. I hope I’ve got this right!lol
Ray … ?
Mary is talking to Ray because he’s the one telling the truth.
Nick
Ray speaks the truth.
Ray
Ray is telling the truth.
Nick.
She’s talking to Sam
Ray
Nick.
Mary is talking to Ray
Ray
Ray is the truth telling mouse.
Nick!
Nick
Ray
She was talking to Ray
She was talking to Ray.
Presuming that the liars always lie, I’d say Mary was talking to Nick.
Nick
Nick!
Mary was talking to Nick!
Ray
she’s speaking to Ray
Ray is telling the truth.
She was talking to Ray.
Nick
Nick
Nick
Mary was talking to Ray.
The only sensible option is that Ray is incapable of lying. Sam is lying. And Nick is lying because his sentence is a lie whether only one of them are lying as if are lying both.
Sam is lying (because Ray can’t lie) and Nick is lying too (becouse only Sam lies now).
Ray
Nick is not a liar.
Ray!
Ray
Ray.
RAY
To tell the truth, Ray was telling the truth.
Ray always tells the truth.
Ray
Ray
Ray
Ray
Ray.
Ray
Ray is telling the truth.
Ray
Ray.
Mary was talking to Nick, of course!
Mary was talking to Ray.
Ray
Mary is talking to the narrator, the mouse which is not lying.
Nick
Nick