My friend is looking for some riddles to incorporate into a level of a game he’s working on. Specifically riddles about choosing the correct path(or thing). Anyone know any good ones that aren’t too well known?
A wise shaman was visited by the tribe’s young braves. The braves wanted to fool the old man and make him look foolish, so the leader of the young braves held a small bird in his closed hands (with just a bit of feathers showing), and asked the wise man what was in his hands. The wise shaman said (obviously) “a bird”. The young brave then said “yes, you are right wise shaman, but is it alive or dead?”
The wise old shaman paused, knowing if he said alive, the young brave would crush the bird, and if he said that it was dead, then the brave would simply let it go. What did the shaman say? He replied, “that young brave, depends on you”
Hope that helps! If not, your credit card fees will be refunded.
Unfortunately, to find the answer is quite length and would be very difficult to find. It’s likely to hinder the progress of the game you speak of. But I will give it a shot nonetheless:
You have died, (or something to that effect) and find yourself at the crossroads between heaven and hell. Before each of the paths stands a man. One man will always tell the truth, the other will always lie. You are granted one question that may be directed at either man, it’s your choice but you know not which of the men lies or tells the truth. What one question do you ask to determine the path to hell and the path to heaven?
ANSWER
Ask one of the men, it does not matter which, this question:
“If I ask the other man whether or not you guard the path to hell, will he say yes?”
If he answers ‘NO’ the man you asked the question to guards the path to hell, If he answers ‘YES’ he guards the path to heaven.
Why? lets work it out.
Let us first assume that the Liar guards the path to heaven and you ask him the question. He will say YES because the truth-teller would say “NO, he does not guard the path to hell.” If you asked the truth-teller (guarding the path to hell), he will say NO because the liar would lie and say “NO he does not guard the path to hell.”
If the roles were reversed and the truth-teller was guarding the path to heaven, he would say YES because the liar would say “YES, that man guards the path to hell.” And if you asked the liar (Who would be guarding hell), he would say NO
because the truth-teller would say “YES that other man guards the path to hell.”
HEAVEN HELL
Liar- YES Truth- NO
Truth- YES Liar- NO
There you have it. Now, if you were to ask the question: “If I ask the other man whether or not you guard the path to HEAVEN, will he say yes?” Then the answer will be reveresed; YES for hell and NO for heaven.
Send a reply to tell me if this helps. If not, I may be able to dig up another, less complicated riddle.