An Intriguing Riddle for the Problem Solver

Are you good at solving problems? Even if you're a real problem solver, you'll still have to rack your brain with this. There's no trick or play on words. This is a genuine, solvable problem.

You have purchased a fox, a chicken and a bag of grain. Carrying them home, you come to a lake. In the water is a community raft for anyone wishing to cross. You can make as many trips as you want, but can only take one thing at a time.

If you take the fox, the chicken will eat the grain. If you take the grain, the fox will eat the chicken. You can take the chicken, but when you go back, what will be your choice? If you take the fox, it will eat the chicken when you go back for the grain. If you take the grain, the chicken will eat the grain when you go back for the fox.

There's no play on words or tricks like tying the fox/chicken up or going around the lake. There is a way to transport them all across the lake on the raft one at a time.

If you like solving problems, copy & print while you work on the solution and see how long it takes you to solve this problem before reading the answer. If you need a hint, scroll down. *

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Hint: You can make as many trips as you want. That's the key. It will take a lot of trips back and forth, but you can get them all to the other side of the lake. *

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ANSWER:

Take the chicken first, leaving the fox with the grain. Go back and get the grain. Take it across the lake and bring the chicken back across. Leave the chicken and take the fox over, leaving it with the grain while you go back for the chicken.

This is an excellent riddle to ask at parties to test those who claim to be problem solvers. The clue that usually escapes most of us is that we can make as many trips as needed. It never occurs us to take one of them back across. It's funny how solving difficult problems seem easy to some of us while the simplest things escape us.