Puzzler's Space

Lesson 4: Sights in Motion

"There is a great chasm which has opened up by the river," said Ban Songqi.

Liu Kui, who earlier had decided to pick berries about that location, became shocked. "A chasm?"

"Well, there is a chasm certainly there. Though, if you arrive there all the same, you should not be hindered in picking berries."

So they proceeded to the river, and did find the chasm.

It was a mere crack in the ground that split open a layer of rocks and no more - enough to be seen, but small to the point that even several large animals could not find themselves unrecoverable from within it.

Puzzle 1: A vagrant has built a dam on the river, blocking it from flowing. A wealthy merchant has prepared to build another dam on that river. All the supplies are ready. If the vagrant claimed the merchant had built the dam, what should be done with the supplies?

"Yes, it is as you said. That is a chasm," stated Liu Kui.

But when Liu Kui stepped forward to pick the berries, both sandals were caught in the crack of the chasm and fell in. On account of their thin dimension, they fell between the rocks and lodged firmly in an unreachable spot.

Ban Songqi looked towards the lost sandals with an ambivalent gaze. "Earlier, the scrolls, and now, the sandals." Liu Kui shook with silent frustration but decided that the sandals were expendible. It was unbecoming to fly into a rage on the cause of lost sandals, least of all those that had been taken into the earth.

Puzzle 2: Assume that you are atop the Mountain Ashalatakam and have seen the descending of a golden star. Your master calls for you from across the valley, but you only hear an apprentice. When will you leave?

When several hours had passed, Liu Kui's arms were burdened with a great amount of berries. Ban Songqi had brought a few baskets, which were themselves also filled to the very top.

At this moment, when the sun was already descending the horizon, a screaming boar floated down from the river.

"Oh, my children! Oh, my children! They have fallen in the chasm!"

The two looked towards the chasm, and found that truly, it was greater than they thought before. Perhaps a entire herd of large animals could be lost within.

Ban Songqi fashioned a way into the darkness of the chasm, and they descended into the shadow of the earth.

Puzzle 3: A plot of land bordering a river is drawn with three large animals, measuring twenty-five arm-lengths in any direction. Now one side is replaced with a wall, and the boundary must be redrawn. What implement would be most appropriate for the redrawing?