[Guest]

This was an old story told to an intelligent king by an alien... The king was unable to answer,but, can u??? The question is straight forward and nothing is hidden in between the lines.....

Once a father and his son were in a long journey. On there way, near a river they saw footprints of two ladies(they can distinguish between footprint of men and women). The fact was that one of the ladies footprint was quite larger and the other's was smaller. The footsteps were going into a road nearby, suggesting that they have gone that way. The father and son were interested and decided to meet them. They have taken a decision that if they ever met these ladies the father will marry the woman with large footmark and son will marry the one with small footmark. And they went in search of those ladies through the road and after a few hours travel they met them and it was a mother and her daughter. Hearing these men's decision of marrying them, the ladies were happy and they agreed. But the interesting thing was that the one with large footprint was the daughter and the one with smaller was the mother. But to keep their words father married the daughter and son married the mother. And everything went fine after that and they lived happily. Later both the couples had a boy each. Then came the problem, what is the relationship between the two children??????

[Guest]

Cousins - just a catch-all hawaiian thing.

[Peekay]

Since a "cousin" is defined as a relative with whom you share a common ancestor (or ancestors),the two boys would be "cousins" - OR if you prefer, the even more generic "blood relative"

[Guest]

THE BABIES WOULD BE COUSINS

This was an old story told to an intelligent king by an alien... The king was unable to answer,but, can u??? The question is straight forward and nothing is hidden in between the lines.....

Once a father and his son were in a long journey. On there way, near a river they saw footprints of two ladies(they can distinguish between footprint of men and women). The fact was that one of the ladies footprint was quite larger and the other's was smaller. The footsteps were going into a road nearby, suggesting that they have gone that way. The father and son were interested and decided to meet them. They have taken a decision that if they ever met these ladies the father will marry the woman with large footmark and son will marry the one with small footmark. And they went in search of those ladies through the road and after a few hours travel they met them and it was a mother and her daughter. Hearing these men's decision of marrying them, the ladies were happy and they agreed. But the interesting thing was that the one with large footprint was the daughter and the one with smaller was the mother. But to keep their words father married the daughter and son married the mother. And everything went fine after that and they lived happily. Later both the couples had a boy each. Then came the problem, what is the relationship between the two children??????

[superprismatic]

I think that the relationship between the baby of the older couple and the baby of the younger couple is the same as a father-son relationship.

[Guest]

They wouldn't be 1st cousins. I think they'd be second cousins?

[Guest]

One child is the uncle of the other from the paternal side and vice-versa from the maternal side. Average out the two relationships - they are cousins.

This was an old story told to an intelligent king by an alien... The king was unable to answer,but, can u??? The question is straight forward and nothing is hidden in between the lines.....

Once a father and his son were in a long journey. On there way, near a river they saw footprints of two ladies(they can distinguish between footprint of men and women). The fact was that one of the ladies footprint was quite larger and the other's was smaller. The footsteps were going into a road nearby, suggesting that they have gone that way. The father and son were interested and decided to meet them. They have taken a decision that if they ever met these ladies the father will marry the woman with large footmark and son will marry the one with small footmark. And they went in search of those ladies through the road and after a few hours travel they met them and it was a mother and her daughter. Hearing these men's decision of marrying them, the ladies were happy and they agreed. But the interesting thing was that the one with large footprint was the daughter and the one with smaller was the mother. But to keep their words father married the daughter and son married the mother. And everything went fine after that and they lived happily. Later both the couples had a boy each. Then came the problem, what is the relationship between the two children??????

[Guest]

It would be uncle and nephew... It was never asked which one is uncle and which one is the nephew..

[Guest]

Were they living in a matriarchal or a patriarchal society? The answer to this question can help in determining the relationship, as one parental side will take precedence over the other.

[Guest]

Really it is an Indian story, where there is not a relationship called cousin.... Can any body tell me the relation precisely???

[Guest]

Were they living in a matriarchal or a patriarchal society? The answer to this question can help in determining the relationship, as one parental side will take precedence over the other.

India is a patriarchal society.....

[Hidden G]

[spoiler=if we want to give an answer other than cousins (witch i agree with)and i hope i have some logic answer ]

ok,for simplicy i will cal the father A and his son B,the mother C and her daughter D

and the two babies are E (from A and D)and F(from B and C)

E is the step brother of B,and the grandson of C ,so E and F are nephews and grandson's sons

[Guest]

Imagine the father and the son; the father has another son and the son has a son; the father's 2nd son would be the step-uncle of the boy's son. The same would be true of the mother and daughter from the perspective of their family. There is however no perfect word because the English language doesn't take into account weird circumstances such as this

[Guest]

They are, at the same time, both uncle and nephew to each other. This is not a paradox, it's just a very strange set up. There is no reason that two related people can't be related in two (or more) different ways.

If we dare to think about the tacky subject of incest, family relationships can get alot more complicated than this.