401.—­EIGHT JOLLY GAOL BIRDS.

[Illustration]

The illustration shows the plan of a prison of nine cells all communicating with one another by doorways.  The eight prisoners have their numbers on their backs, and any one of them is allowed to exercise himself in whichever cell may happen to be vacant, subject to the rule that at no time shall two prisoners be in the same cell.  The merry monarch in whose dominions the prison was situated offered them special comforts one Christmas Eve if, without breaking that rule, they could so place themselves that their numbers should form a magic square.

Now, prisoner No. 7 happened to know a good deal about magic squares, so he worked out a scheme and naturally selected the method that was most expeditious—­that is, one involving the fewest possible moves from cell to cell.  But one man was a surly, obstinate fellow (quite unfit for the society of his jovial companions), and he refused to move out of his cell or take any part in the proceedings.  But No. 7 was quite equal to the emergency, and found that he could still do what was required in the fewest possible moves without troubling the brute to leave his cell.  The puzzle is to show how he did it and, incidentally, to discover which prisoner was so stupidly obstinate.  Can you find the fellow?

402.—­NINE JOLLY GAOL BIRDS.

[Illustration]

Shortly after the episode recorded in the last puzzle occurred, a ninth prisoner was placed in the vacant cell, and the merry monarch then offered them all complete liberty on the following strange conditions.  They were required so to rearrange themselves in the cells that their numbers formed a magic square without their movements causing any two of them ever to be in the same cell together, except that at the start one man was allowed to be placed on the shoulders of another man, and thus add their numbers together, and move as one man.  For example, No. 8 might be placed on the shoulders of No. 2, and then they would move about together as 10.  The reader should seek first to solve the puzzle in the fewest possible moves, and then see that the man who is burdened has the least possible amount of work to do.

403.—­THE SPANISH DUNGEON.

Not fifty miles from Cadiz stood in the middle ages a castle, all traces of which have for centuries disappeared.  Among other interesting features, this castle contained a particularly unpleasant dungeon divided into sixteen cells, all communicating with one another, as shown in the illustration.

Now, the governor was a merry wight, and very fond of puzzles withal.  One day he went to the dungeon and said to the prisoners, “By my halidame!” (or its equivalent in Spanish) “you shall all be set free if you can solve this puzzle.  You must so arrange yourselves in the sixteen cells that the numbers on your backs shall form a magic square in which every column, every row, and each of the two diagonals shall add up the same.  Only remember this:  that in no case may two of you ever be together in the same cell.”