T2B27

Portia and her husband did, as a matter of fact, live happily ever after. They had a daughter Portia II-henceforth to be called "Portia." When the young Portia grew to young womanhood, she was both clever and beautiful, just like her mommy. She also decided to select her husband by the casket method. The suitor had to pass two tests in order to win her.

Second Tale, First Puzzle:

In this test each lid contained two statements, and Portia explained that no lid contained more than one false statement.

Which casket contains the portrait? 

The Answer:

We can immediately rule out the lead casket, for if the portrait were there, then both statements on the lead casket would be false. So the portrait is in the gold or the silver casket. Now, the first statements on the gold and silver caskets agree, so they are both true or both false. If they are both false, the second statements are both true­ but they cannot be both true since they are contradictory. Therefore the first statements are both true, so the portrait cannot b e in the gold casket. This proves that the portrait is in the silver casket.