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A Puzzling Dilemma 10/24/2007 4:21:05 PM
--Or, how to reach the end of the rainbow, role-playingly speaking What's high in the Sky,
And low to the ground,
But its bottom end,
Can never be found?
---Rainbow
by Brian S. Pratt
I came up with that riddle years ago when I was still in High School, Dungeon Mastering for the Chess Club. Funny thing is, we never actually played chess in the Chess Club. Oh well.
Over the years, I've pondered the riddle and think I may have come up with a way to reach the end of the rainbow, within the context of a world where magic works.
First, you need two people.
Second, you need to have the ability to contact one another telepathically, or by some other means other than vocalization.
Now what you do is one person acts as the Watcher. He keeps an eye on the rainbow. The second person is the one who makes their way to the end of the rainbow, guided by the directions of the Watcher. Oh yes, the second person must be blindfolded, or rendered sightless by some means.
The reasoning behind the second person needing to be blindfolded, is that everyone knows that as you move toward the rainbow, it moves too. So for it to remain stationary, the second person has to be blindfolded.
The Watcher, who maintains visual contact with the rainbow, and thus keeping it in a stationary position, guides the second person to the end. Once he reaches the spot where the rainbow contacts the ground, he digs.
I love interesting puzzles such as that. How, why, who? Things need to make sense, at least in the world to which you have placed them.
