Infidelity

by Kevin J. Lin

In the quiet village of Matrimony, almost every man is completely faithful to his wife. Why? Because all the men are honorable gentlemen. Slightly germane as well is the long standing tradition that if a woman ever learns her husband is unfaithful, she will kill him that night while he sleeps.

It also may be relevant that the women are notorious gossips. If a woman discovers a man to be untrue, either on her own or through heresy, this fact will quickly be known throughout the village within a matter of hours to all the married women except the wife of the unfaithful man.

One fateful day a fortune teller came to town and revealed the terrible truth: some man or men had been unfaithful.

For a week, a great fear gripped the town as every woman wondered if her man was true, and as every philandering man wondered if his days were numbered.

Then, on the eighth morning after the fortune teller came, the coffin maker received his orders. How many men were dead?

See the Solution