You look at the . . . um . . . er . . . creatures who spoke: there seem to be two, but as you look closer you notice that there are actually four. Two heads on top, and two on bottom.
The four strange guards are looking at you with rather amused expressions; you don't find the situation very amusing at all.
"But this was a dead-end a minute ago . . ." you exclaim confusedly.
One of the heads replies, "No, that's the dead-end behind you!" All of the heads hide their mouths begind their hands and giggle.
You swirl around, and to your dismay, the guards are right. The passage you had just walked through is now a dead-end.
"It keeps changing! What am I supposed to do?"
Right away one of the bottom heads (Tim) replies: "Well, the only way out of here is to try one of these doors."
the other bottom head (Jim) quickly pipes up: One of them leads to the castle at the center of the labyrinth, and the other one leads to . . . " one of the top heads (Ralph) exclaims "ba ba ba bum!" and Tim finishes with, "Certain death!"
Alph, Ralph, Tim, and Jim make scary "ooooo" noises and then giggle once again.
Well, you are now thoroughly upset. You're stuck in this labyrinth with only two choices, and one of them doesn't have very good consequences.
You decide to try your luck and ask Tim and Jim: "Well, which one is which?"
To your dissapointment, Jim replies that they don't know. Then, hope appears once again when you find out that Alph and Ralph do!
Of course, there has to be a catch:
ALPH: Uh . . .You can't ask us, you can only ask one of us.
RALPH: It's in the rules. But I should warn ya: one of us always tells the truth --
ALPH: And one of us always lies.
RALPH: Here's a little clue: he always lies.
ALPH: I do not! I tell the truth!
RALPH: Oh, what a lie.
Tim and Jim giggle, but you are thinking very hard . . .
You believe you know how to solve this problem. You walk over to Alph and ask your question:
"Would he tell me that this door leads to the castle?"
Alph and Tim converse behid their sheild, and eventually Alph pops up once again with his answer: "Yeees . . ."
Using your brilliant deductive strategies, you proclaim your decision:
"Then the other door leads to the castle, and this door leads to certain death."
Well, Alph and Ralph must know how you came to that conclusion:
ALPH: How do you know? He could be telling the truth.
YOU: But then you wouldn't be; so if you said yes, I know the answer would be no.
ALPH: But I could be telling the truth.
YOU: But then he would be lying, and I would know that the answer would still be no.
ALPH: Is that right?
RALPH: I don't know, I've never understood it!
YOU: No, it's right. I figured it out. I could never do it before! I think I'm getting smarter! This is a piece of cake!
You figured out the riddle, but now you have a choice:
Did you test the floor before stepping into the corridor . . .
Or
Did you just walk right through?
