A MIXED PEDIGREE.
(
Money Puzzles)
Joseph Bloggs: "I can't follow it, my dear boy. It makes me dizzy!"
John Snoggs: "It's very simple. Listen again! You happen to be my
father's brother-in-law, my brother's father-in-law, and also my
father-in-law's brother. You see, my father was--"
But Mr. Bloggs refused to hear any more. Can the reader show how this
extraordinary triple relationship might have come about?
Answer:
[Illustration:
Thos. Bloggs m . . . . .
|
+------------------------+------------+
| | |
| | |
| W. Snoggs m Kate Bloggs. |
| | |
| | |
. . m Henry Bloggs. | Joseph Bloggs m
| | |
| +--------+-------------+ |
| | | |
| | | |
Jane John Alf. Mary
Bloggs m Snoggs Snoggs m Bloggs
]
The letter m stands for "married." It will be seen that John Snoggs
can say to Joseph Bloggs, "You are my _father's brother-in-law_, because
my father married your sister Kate; you are my _brother's
father-in-law_, because my brother Alfred married your daughter Mary;
and you are my _father-in-law's brother_, because my wife Jane was your
brother Henry's daughter."
