Braingle: 'One Pair Out of Ten' Brain Teaser

One Pair Out of Ten

Trick brain teasers appear difficult at first, but they have a trick that makes them really easy.

Puzzle ID:	#34227
Fun:	(3.05)
Difficulty:	(1.81)
Category:	Trick
Submitted By:	Sherilyn
Corrected By:	Sherilyn

A very mean king went to a nearby village. He wanted some more slaves to serve him at his royal palace. He decided that if any family in the village had more than five children, he would take them. A cobbler and his wife had ten children. When the king came to take them, the cobbler and his wife begged and begged. Finally the king said, "I see that you have ten pairs of shoes in a box. If you can give each of your children a pair and still leave one pair out of ten in the box, you can keep your children. The cobbler and his wife began to smile at each other. How did they keep all of their children?

Answer

The cobbler and his wife gave each of his nine children a pair of shoes. That left one pair in the box. They then gave this tenth child the box with the shoes in it.
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Comments

frank0001h Dec 03, 2006	Another variation on an old chestnut.
blondebookworm Dec 03, 2006	Really clever teaser. You stumped me.
calmsavior Dec 03, 2006	I'm tired of it when teasers are just manipulated to look like new ones.
atin_ag Dec 04, 2006	Really gr88 teasers..
vlerma Dec 04, 2006	Were they sneakers? Because this tricky one surely was. Neat job.
scallio Dec 04, 2006	Very funny!
cuteandditzy Dec 04, 2006	Nice one! I love the teasers that make me laugh when I read them. This one did the trick!
Punk_Rocker Dec 04, 2006	I thought they had the child stand in the box...Oh well, close enough. =]
(user deleted) Dec 05, 2006	HA HA HA! THTA WAS VERY FUNNY
lukeschett Dec 05, 2006	Have the kid stand in the box with his shoes on.
Swordoffury1392 Dec 05, 2006	Easy but fun!
bobiscool134 Dec 07, 2006	I was thinking of two answers. 1. They kids had more then one pare of shoes. 2. they made more shoes.
senther7 Dec 08, 2006	LLLLLOOOOOOOOOOLLLLLLLLLlLL you tricked me -_- nice one!
dolphingurl12 Dec 19, 2006	Good one, sheri!
I_Write_Books Dec 19, 2006	I was thinking along the same line as lukeschett
lavender Dec 26, 2006	liked it!!!!!! keep it up!
Coolfreeze Dec 31, 2006	Great teaser! Sure tricked me!
NoQuestion Jan 04, 2007	really origional!
AbsurdHero Jan 05, 2007	I had him stand in the box too. Same difference.
cloughme Jan 05, 2007	Excellent!!! Had to really think about it!!
Dishhead5 Jan 05, 2007	i saw it in "Super cool jokes and games for kids" ages ago by Bob Phillips... lol
coachpisco Jan 05, 2007	I can't believe I got that one.
craniac Jan 05, 2007	So did solving this one require thinking outside the box or inside the box? Either way, it stumped me.
katjojo Jan 05, 2007	I was thinking along the same line of thinking as some of the others have. Stumped me!! This one was cute and funny!!
notsosmart111 Jan 05, 2007	Another easy riddle and your answer can go anywaay think more next time!!!!
bradon182001 Jan 05, 2007	This was cute. Really easy, but cute.
Pizzazz2u Jan 05, 2007	Totally Awesome teaser! The teaser would have fooled me, but I have a super tricky old man, who enjoys throwing situations at me, constantly and I have had this one before. Keep up the tremendously super work!
breathesunshine Jan 05, 2007	Fun one! Not too hard not too easy for a half asleep brain!
(user deleted) Jan 05, 2007	It was an ok teaser but it was kinda retarted but thats just my opinion. It was sort of funny tho
Starberry Jan 05, 2007	Awesome teaser! Well done!
tpkarth Jan 05, 2007	Such a mean king!!! I wonder if they could escape from him with a such a trick!!! congrats, u tricked me...
tonjawithaj Jan 05, 2007	Clever!
auntiesis Jan 05, 2007	Got me! But, verrrrrry interesting.
katamaster Jan 05, 2007	I answered that one of the children had died, so there was enough children to have one pair left over.
amb1912 Jan 05, 2007	Cool i liked it. it made me think and then i found out the answer! i am smart!!!
nightpuppy Jan 05, 2007	that was a good 1 keep em' comin'
heyman Jan 05, 2007	There were too many variations on this one to make it fun. How about the parents? Did they have shoes. Could they have dumped their shoes in the box?
lmurray Jan 05, 2007	INTUITIVELY OBVIOUS!
Moon_Girl_ Jan 05, 2007	i thought they made more shoes! GREAT TEASER!!!
mmmcla01 Jan 05, 2007	Very easy but still pretty fun! I knew it before I finished reading it!!
carissker9 Jan 05, 2007	but u said that each child had to have a pai of shoes not a box.....it doesn't make sense
rehtaeh Jan 05, 2007	I thought that perhaps one/two i guess of them were Siamese twins or something with only on set of legs between them but that is what happens when you think outside the dodecahedron
xmadnetx Jan 05, 2007	what so the tenth child kept the box not the pair of shoes?
bmoorbruins93 Jan 06, 2007	I have to admit, you got me! Very clever.
Cat-Lady Jan 07, 2007	I didn't think outside the box!! Good teaser
speedqueenkmw Jan 13, 2007	i don't get it
speedqueenkmw Jan 13, 2007	Ok, I went back and read it again, duh!
cyberstar5150 Jan 16, 2007	I thought that one of the parents took off their shoes and put it in one of the boxes. I guess that some riddles just come with more than one answer.
stacy Jan 28, 2007	that was a good one.
luv2sing101 Feb 05, 2007	i dnt get it!!! grrrrr..... plez explain?????
luv2sing101 Feb 05, 2007	ha i reread it... i get it now. nice one
Kellington Mar 15, 2007	I'm snot sure if I get this one... Wasn't every child supposed to have a pair of "Shoes"? Did the box substitute as the shoes? Couldn't they have just had another pair of shoes laying around? I still don't understand
Kellington Mar 15, 2007	OOOOOOOOHHHHH!!!!! Okay, I get it.
cooltigerr1 Apr 01, 2007	KINDA CONFUSING...
shopaholic Apr 09, 2007	ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
aPlatinum Apr 14, 2007	clever
Hummingbird1 May 15, 2007	I liked it. Hope to see more like it.
IluvDepp_Bloom May 15, 2007	haha!!
cowman12 Jun 21, 2007	Great teaser! I thought it was one of Indi's!
happyhak Jul 30, 2007	LOL!!! That was a great teaser! I thought the answer was that 2 children shared a pair!!!
Freezinjoe Sep 26, 2007	Yeah I was thinking that one of the parents put there shoes int the box but that obviously can't be an answer because it says 1 out of 10 pair of shoes must remain in the box. adding a parents shoes would make it 1 out of 11 pairs.. but really good one.
Fire_Shell96 Nov 19, 2007	assuming that the older people had shoes, they could have given the children their shoes.
Calehay Nov 02, 2008	Great!
7mi27 Mar 15, 2009	I thought that one of the kids was a baby and they put the shoes on and put the baby in the box....
MusiK Jan 05, 2010	similar to a one I heard before, but nice storyline
doehead Jan 05, 2010	As Sherlock would say-Very elementray my dear.
UptheHill Jan 05, 2010	NICE!!!
phyllisa Aug 27, 2010	Cute, I thought maybe one child was too young to walk and didn't need shoes to wear. That was all I could come up with.
Babe Jan 05, 2013	So tired out and old is this one, but apparently some have never seen it before! It is not even a good one and that is only my opinion!
jaycr Jan 05, 2013	I liked it.
gaylewolf Jan 05, 2013	Yes, this one was pretty easy!
kitty-cat Jan 05, 2013	To those who don't understand: 9 children each pulled a pair of shoes out of the box. The tenth child took the box, that still had one pair of shoes inside of it. Thus, each kid had a pair of shoes, but one had a pairr that was still inside the box.
HABS2933 Jan 05, 2013	GS = 4