Pastel Knights
Unknown
A Historical Perspective
We have all heard of the villainous Black Knight of Olde England;
however, few (if any) know of the other "knights of color" who would
have contributed to that country's history, if history had only
remembered them. I speak here of those doyens of devilish
drerring-do, from whom the Black Knight is rumored to have learned his
trade, the puissant Pastel Knights. Unfortunately, history has
largely (actually totally) ignored the exploits of that brave band;
so, I took it upon myself to determine the cause of that grave
omission. My source, a respected scholar of Anglo-Saxon history,
related the following tale:
"When King Arthur called the First Annual Grand Tournament at Camelot,
knights from throughout England gathered to test their mettle in feats
of glorious combat. Among them were the Pastel Knights (one of whom
was the Lavender Knight) and a relative unknown, who would come to be
known as the Black Knight (not really a relative). In a night of wild
revelry, the night before the tournament was to begin, the Pastel
Knights inbibed more than was good for them and, upon staggering back
to their quarters, they disarmored (Is that a word?) and dropped their
armor and shields into a pile by the door, prior to falling onto their
beds. The following morning they awoke bleary-eyed, in the pre-dawn
darkness. Unable to distinguish the colors of the armor and shields,
they grabbed and donned whatever they could from the pile. As they
stumbled out onto the tournament grounds, the spectators and the other
assembled knights broke into peals of laughter and derision. The
Pastel Knights, thoroughly mortified, suddenly remembered various,
serious maladies that necessitated their withdrawal from the
tournament. They, apparently, slunk from the city while everyone's
attention was on the tournament, and were never heard of again (except
in follow-on problems.)"
HISTORICAL NOTE: It was at that tournament that the Black Knight won
his colors.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1
Upon arising on the morning of the Grand Tournament, each of the
Pastel Knights grabbed and donned four items of armor ( a helm, a
cuirass, a set of greaves and a shield) from the pile. Unfortunately,
none of the items worn by any one of the knights matched. In fact,
each knight got four items of four different colors. The result, of
course, was their total humiliation before the gathered masses of
Camelot.
From the information provided below, determine the colors of the items
of armor that each knight pulled from the pile and wore (or carried)
onto the tournament field.
1. No knight got two items of the same color; however, each knight
got exactly one of his own items. For example, the Lavender Knight
got the lavender shield.
2. The Rose Knight did not get any beige item, nor did the one who
got the beige shield get any lavender item.
3. Either the Lavender Knight or the Rose Knight got the yellow helm
and the other got the yellow greaves.
4. The knight who got the lavender helm also got the beige cuirass
and the knight who got the rose greaves also got the yellow cuirass
5. The knight who got the yellow helm did not get any pink item. The
knight who got the pink greaves did not get any yellow item, nor did
the knight who got the beige helm get any rose colored item.
6. The Beige Knight got the pink cuirass.
Ilan Mayer
SPOILER
Cuirass Greaves Helm Shield
------- ------- ------- -------
Beige knight Pink Lavender Beige Yellow
Lavender knight Rose Beige Yellow Lavender
Pink knight Beige Pink Lavender Rose
Rose knight Lavender Yellow Rose Pink
Yellow knight Yellow Rose Pink Beige
Please reply to ilan at cedara dot com
__/\__
\ /
__/\\ //\__ Ilan Mayer
\ /
/__ __\ Toronto, Canada
/__ __\
||