Ram was a little village boy. He lived in a small village of England. Every morning he used to deliver eggs at Mrs. Pallvi’s and at Mr. Hemant’s house.
One morning Tom took up his basket of eggs and set of for Mrs. Pallvi’s cottage. As he went, he counted the steps he took.
When Ram to Mrs. Pallvi’s cottage, he knocked at the door. The old lady came out and Tom gave her the eggs.
``boy’’ said the old lady, ``you are a little late today.’’
``Ma’am, it took me eighty minutes to get here,’’ said tom to Mrs. Pallavi. ``It is exactly seven thousand steps from my door to yours’’.
Now Ram walked with his eggs to Mr. Hemant’s house. It was to the east of Mrs. Pallvi’s cottage. Tom counted his steps once again.
But what a surprise! It was again seven thousand steps from Mrs. Pallvi’s cottage to Hemant’s house.
Ram looked at his watch. He found that it had taken him eighty minutes as before. How strange!
Now he started back for his home. Once again he counted his steps. It was again seven thousand steps from Mr. Hemant’s house to ram’s own cottage in the village.
``So the distance between these three places is the same,’’’ said Ram to himself. ``How strange! When I go out to play in the afternoon, I will tell the other boy’s.’’
That afternoon ram told his story to the other boys in the village. But he made it a little puzzle. He wanted to know how clever they were.
``Listen,’’ he said with a smile. ``This morning I went to Mrs. Pallvi’s cottage. I counted my steps. I walked seven thousand steps. It took me eight minutes. Then I walked from there to Mr. Hemant’s house. Again it was seven thousand steps and it took me eighty minutes. Then I walked back home. This time also it was seen thousand steps. But now it took me one hour and twenty minutes. Can you tell why?’’
`` Don’t be silly, Ram,’’ said Romy. ``If you took the same number of steps, you couldn’t have taken one our and twenty minute. You must have slowed down your speed if you took that much time.’’
``no’’, said Ram, ``I did not slow down my speed.’’
``Then you must have stopped to talk to someone on the way’’, said Vinai.
``no, I did not to anyone in the way’’.
``Did you stop to dust your shoes, do up your laces, eat a sandwich or something like that?’’ asked James.
``No,’’ said Ram. ``I did not do any such thing.’’
``Then there must be something wrong with your old watch,’’ said Buda.
``No, my watch keeps correct time,’’ said ram. ``But I never thought you were so stupid1’’
``Ram, you are stupid,’’ said Romy. ``You could not have taken one hour and twenty minutes to go the same distance. You must have taken eighty minutes because you walked the same number of steps as before.’’
``Ho! Oh! You fools!’’ said Ram. ``All of you are fools. Eighty minutes I one hour and twenty minutes. Do not you know that much? Oh, Eh! What a shame! None of you could answer a simple puzzle.’’