What’s good for the goose isn’t always good for the gander

THE fox, the goose and the bag of corn are a problem. A problem mainly to their owner. The poor sod needs to get all three to the other side of the river, but his boat has limited capacity. Once he’s in it, the boat can accommodate only one or at most two of the other items.

It’s only when he starts to load the boat that he realises this is more complicated than he thought at first. If he leaves the fox and the goose together on one side of the river, Reynard will make bits of Mother Goose before he gets back.

If, on the other hand, he leaves Mother Goose and the corn together, he’ll return, having unloaded the fox on the far shore, to find one full goose and one empty corn bag.