The boy had a cat on the boat,
Alone among blue all around.
He wrote a very brief note,
Hoping the can would be found.
I just came back from the Latpipe Hotel and decided to head to the beach, for a swim. I parked my car and then walked to the sandy shore. After wiping the sweat off my forehead (it was a hot, sunny day), I reached into my bag and pulled out a towel, laying it across a patch of sand. I then knelt down, pulling out my Mohxus swimming gear (that was the name of the brand). But as I stepped on a particular area of the towel, I felt a hard bump from underneath.
I must have not noticed whatever it was underneath the towel, for I soon discovered it was a metal can. I thought it was some kind of seashell or a crab, but it was a can with words strewn across its middle: $\rm Emergency \,Drinking \,Water.$ That was weird... until I opened it and found a rolled up piece of paper inside!
You see, the weird part was not the paper — it was the peculiar writing on it. All I could tell was that it was written in pencil, but I had no idea what it meant!
$<$$\rm u \quad ms,r \quad od \quad \{\rm o \quad\{syr;/$
$\rm O \quad jsbr \quad nrrm \quad om \quad s \quad djo[etrvl/$
$\rm O \quad s, \quad pm \quad s \quad ;ogrnpsy \quad s;pmr \quad eoyj \quad s \quad yohrt/$
$\rm \{;rsdr \quad drmf \quad jr;[/$
What does it mean?
But then I turned the sheet of paper over, and on the back was some kind of... riddle...?
Look for the home of the letters,
Where they are together onboard.
Move East only once without errors,
To welcome the fruit of the sword.
What sword?
And then I noticed something else inscribed on the bottom of the can in very tiny writing. I had to pull out my lucky magnifying glass to see this. (See why it's lucky?)
The elite brAin nEst was born on my name,
But wHen theSp (a king) died, he fell on the same.
This can may hold four-hundred grams,
But now there's two more at the shams.
Are the capitals supposed to be there?
I then looked below and read the words: I had a cat with genus Iztyriu and species Gribvi.
I know nothing about cats. Can you help me?
Who was the boy?
What was the cat's name?
Bonus for $50$ rep: What day was it when I went to the beach? (Partial reasoning not accepted.)
Hint:
"The pen is mightier than the sword."
Answer
Partial:
The first message is shifted 1 key right on the keyboard, e.g. a->s and s->d. Decoding it gives:
My name is Pi Patel.
I have been in a shipwreck.
I am on alifeboat alone with a tiger.
Please send help.
This references
The movie Life of Pi.
All the clues aren't solved, but I will put this out as a possibility.
The boy is
Pi Patel
The cat is
Richard Parker
No comments:
Post a Comment