A Tangled Tale facts for kids

A Tangled Tale is a collection of 10 short, funny stories written by Lewis Carroll. You might know him as the author of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland! These stories first appeared in a magazine called The Monthly Packet between 1880 and 1885. Later, they were put together into a book, and Arthur B. Frost drew pictures for them.

Carroll called each story a Knot. Each Knot has a fun mathematical puzzle hidden inside it. After each story was published, Carroll would later share the answer to the puzzle. He would also talk about how readers tried to solve them. Sometimes, the math problems were a bit tricky to figure out!

In the book's introduction, Carroll explained that he wanted to hide math questions in each Knot. He hoped these puzzles would be fun and helpful for the magazine's readers. He said it was like hiding medicine in jam when you were little! Even though Carroll later called his stories "a lame attempt," others really liked them. One writer, Stuart Dodgson Collingwood, said in 1888 that A Tangled Tale was "the most popular of all his books." He also said it was Carroll's best try at mixing math with humor.

What are the Knots about?

Here's a quick look at each of the 10 Knots and their puzzles:

Knot I: Excelsior

This story features two knights talking about how far they've traveled. They discuss going uphill and downhill at different speeds. The older knight explains a math problem in a rather confusing way.

Solution to Knot I

Carroll's solution usually included a simpler way to understand the problem. He would then show how to solve it and give the answer. He also talked about how readers solved the problem and gave them grades.

Knot II: Eligible Apartments

Professor Balbus, a character known for his vague but exciting stories, gets a puzzle from his students. It's about the number of guests for a party, described in a confusing way. He then creates his own math problem for them, asking for two answers.

Solution to Knot II

Carroll often used diagrams to help solve the math problems. He sometimes gave partial credit to readers who used "guesswork."

Knot III: Mad Mathesis

An bossy aunt named Mad Mathesis makes a bet with her niece. She bets she can pick a train from London that will pass more trains than her niece's train. The niece loses, but she thinks she has found a way to win next time.

Knot IV: The Dead Reckoning

The two knights from Knot I appear again, but in a more modern setting. They are involved in an argument about the weight of passengers' bags that fell off a ship.

Knot V: Oughts and Crosses

The aunt and niece from Knot III are at an art museum. They argue again, and the aunt avoids a tricky logic problem from her niece. The niece's teacher told her students, "The more noise you make the less jam you will have, and vice versa." The niece wants to know if being silent means they'll get endless jam! The aunt responds with her own logic puzzle.

Knot VI: Her Radiancy

Two travelers arrive in a land called Kgovjni, which was mentioned in earlier stories. The ruler puts them in a dungeon with plenty of food and water until they can solve a logic problem.

Solution to Knot VI

Two problems were given in this Knot. The first one was solved using wordplay. Carroll later explained the second problem in detail.

Knot VII: Petty Cash

The aunt and niece meet other travelers by chance. They are all on the same train, at the same station, on the same day, and at the same time! Their lunch bills get mixed up because the aunt didn't write down numbers, thinking she could remember them "easily."

Solution to Knot VII

Carroll provided a solution that always worked. He also explained why some other ways of solving the problem only worked by accident.

Knot VIII: De Omnibus Rebus

The travelers from Knot VI are happily leaving Kgovjni when one of them thinks of a new math problem.

Knot IX: A Serpent with Corners

The characters from Knot II, Professor Balbus and his two students, return. They present three problems that are loosely connected by a story.

Knot X: Chelsea Buns

Mad Mathesis and her niece return, along with Professor Balbus and his two students.

Solution Note for Knot X

One puzzle in this Knot, called The Change of Day, was never fully answered by Carroll. He said he was "waiting for statistics" and was "entirely puzzled by it" himself. The answer to this puzzle is actually the International Date Line, which was being created around the same time A Tangled Tale was written.