[Aaryan]

In a far away land, it was known that if you drank poison, the only way to save yourself is to drink a stronger poison, which neutralizes the weaker poison (and not kill you) . The king that ruled the land wanted to make sure that he possessed the strongest poison in the kingdom, in order to ensure his survival, in any situation. So the king called the kingdom's pharmacist and the kingdom's treasurer, he gave each a week to make the strongest poison. Then, each would drink the other one's poison, then his own, and the one that will survive, will be the one that had the stronger poison.

The pharmacist went straight to work, but the treasurer knew he had no chance, for the pharmacist was much more experienced in this field, so instead, he made up a plan to survive and make sure the pharmacist dies. On the last day the pharmacist suddenly realized that the treasurer would know he had no chance, so he must have a plan. After a little thought, the pharmacist realized what the treasurer's plan must be, and he concocted a counter plan, to make sure he survives and the treasurer dies. When the time came, the king summoned both of them. They drank the poisons as planned, and the treasurer died, the pharmacist survived, and the king didn't get what he wanted.

What exactly happened?

Edited July 25, 2011 by Aaryan

[Gmaster479]

This one wasn't too hard. Had to work backwards but...

The treasurer's plan was to drink a weak poison before the king summoned them. Then he would drink the pharmacists potion and survive followed by drinking his potion, which would merely be water. However the pharmacist thought of this as well and decided to ALSO bring water so that way the treasurer couldn't cure himself from his own weak poison. Therefore they both just drank water in front of the king, the treasurer dies from the weak poison he took before hand and the king ended up with no poison

Had to work backwards because once you realize that the king got nothing, you knew they had both brought water to the summoning so then it was just figuring out why they both thought to do it.

Edited July 25, 2011 by Gmaster479

[Guest]

Pharmacist figured the Accountant would drink weak poison prior to match. The accountant would only bring water to the match. He when he would drink the Pharmacists poison, he would be okay. After which he would only be drinking water. The pharmacist, on the other hand, would start by drinking water, then his own poison resulting in his death.

To combat this, the pharmacist also brought water. The accountant would die from the poison he drank prior to the competition. The pharmacist would then be drinking water twice. The king - only ends up with water.

[TheCube]

I saw this one before I believe.