During one of the Crusades,Sir Goodwin the Inquisitive came across the fabled Golden Cords of Suleiman.The cords were anchored, one foot apart,to the vaulted ceiling eighty feet above the floor in the great hall of a castle he had taken.

With little time to spare and no ladder to use in cutting them down,Sir Goodwin was forced to climb hand over hand as high as he dared and, with his dagger, cut off as much of each rope as he could.

Remember, though, the ceiling was so high that a fall from anywhere above thirty feet would be fatal.How much of the Golden cords do you think Sir Goodwin was able to salvage from the castle?

I'll go with the obvious (and probably wrong) answer) 109 feet.

Sorry SR, it's more than that.

I'll give you the answer but you'll have to find out how Sir Goodwin was able to do it.

He retrieved all 160 feet of the Golden Cords and brought them safely to England,where they provided for him in his old age.How did he do it?

I assumed he climbed up one of the ropes, then cut off both ropes near the top, but didn't let them fall. He tied the two stubs together, forming a loop, and tied the long ropes together through the loop. He then climbed down both long ropes together, and pulled them down through the loop. ?

You're getting there ,Sailracer, but something's missing. You said, and I quote "I assumed he climbed up one of the ropes, then cut off both ropes near the top". Where would he hang on, then, if he cuts both ropes off?

Mozart, I am not clear on how the cords were fastened; I thought perhaps there was a ring he could use to feed the loop into; otherwise I give Up!

Here's how he did it.First he took the two ends at the bottom and tied them tightly together.Next,he climbed up the rope on the left until he reached the top.There he wrapped his legs around both pieces of rope and, while hanging on for dear life, he cut the right-hand rope free with his dagger.He then took the end of the right-hand rope and poked it back through the ring that had originally hed it.

He kept pulling the rope through until the knotted ends reached the ring.Taking hold of the double rope that now hung from the right-hand ring,Sir Goodwin shifted around and cut the cord on the left side free from it's supporting ring.Sir goodwin then carefully slid down the double cord to the floor. Once there, he pulled the cords free of the ring and hightailed it for home.

I assumed there was a ring, and that's was I based by "loop" answer upon; good qustions, Mozart!