A Criminal in the Village
Mystery teasers are little stories where you need to figure out what happened based on the given clues.
There was a village that was controlled by the all powerful Chief. There was a theft in the village which had occurred recently, however no one knew who it was. The police had gathered up 8 suspects and brought them to the Chief. The Chief gave each of them a stick and said, "These are magic sticks. Overnight one stick will grow two inches longer than the rest. The one with the longer stick is the culprit. I want all of you to show up here again tomorrow." The next day, there was one person's stick that was two inches shorter while the other seven were two inches longer. The Chief had the person with the shorter stick arrested. How did he know that he was the culprit?
HintThe Chief was expecting this as a result.
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Answer
The sticks weren't really magical. The Chief had said that because he knew that the real criminal would try to cut his stick shorter so it would remain the same length in the morning.
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Comments
tissue   
Jul 15, 2003
| This is awesome! |
andrewcs 
Jul 18, 2003
| Its a good teaser, but i had heard that one before from a book I read. |
shellface2009
Jul 22, 2003
| that was a good teaser |
highiq151
Aug 03, 2003
| oldie but a goodie. |
Bushgirllu
Aug 06, 2003
| thats the first teaser ive managed to work out today! |
beanie89
Aug 11, 2003
| Real Clever! Keep em comin |
sotnakitt
Sep 18, 2003
| .... the theif shaved off 2 inches because he thought it had grown. that or the village is full of theives and that man was the only true innocent among them. |
marka
Oct 11, 2003
| I like this teaser. I added it to my favorites. |
Ace_Revolver
Oct 19, 2003
| This one was real easy, I got it right off the bat. But I admit it was pretty clever |
mrazmerized
Oct 19, 2003
| Very clever riddle. I got it though. Still, I applaud you riddle_reader. Keep'em coming! |
siameseifuplz
Oct 26, 2003
| A version of this is in "Cyberquest" by Sigmund Brouwer. Any 1 read it? |
(user deleted)
Nov 14, 2003
| dang that was a good one!!!!       |
redrogue
Jan 28, 2004
| Heh...why didn't the thief just measure the original length and then take off two inches should it have grown, which it didn't?  Not a very bright kender, we see. |
bluetwo
Jan 30, 2004
| the thief is a moron. he could have measured the stick and, if it had grown, cut it to the original length. if it remained the same length, no worries. but i think i like sotnakitt's answer better: the village is full of thieves! |
Therulerofthem
Oct 01, 2004
| No that is not a better answer, or how would the one person have a shorter stick |
Mogmatt16
Oct 03, 2004
| redrouge, criminals usually aren't that smart. that's why they are criminals. |
sissy245 
Oct 23, 2004
| That was sort of easy to figure out, but you still had to think (sort of ) |
stormtrooper
Feb 06, 2005
| Too easy. read it in a book i read. |
ABBAS1
Mar 12, 2005
| i already knew the answer
one of my friends solving it
i ALSO like it becuse the chief did a relly fancy od trick and you know that i love those 8 |
changegurl
May 04, 2005
| And yet i get another one, right Ya! |
sweetime
Jun 01, 2005
| the ruler - i think the idea was that if all the other villagers were theives then their sticks would have grown by 2 inches, therefore one stick was 2 inches shorter because it was the original length |
sreejith
Jul 01, 2005
| THIS IS A COPY!!! Its an Indian story. |
chidam11
Jul 14, 2005
| Easy One. |
twixy
Sep 04, 2005
| i read this before |
rkaaland
Nov 16, 2005
| Cool |
emily103
Apr 16, 2006
| isn't this from a book? |
RebelDixie
Jun 26, 2007
| Way to easy. |
adrianlvr1123
Jan 30, 2008
| GREAT JOB!!! It got me thinking but it was pretty clever GREAT JOB... again LOL!! |
luckypuppy
Mar 18, 2008
| Easy but fun to read  |
MegRen
Apr 24, 2009
| No-brainer |
sageowl3106
Sep 17, 2009
| Fun! Gullible Criminal... |
crazyboiez
Nov 18, 2010
| hmm... i saw this riddle on the 4th grade houghton mifflin reading book... O.o |
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