## 9. The Sixth Story

- Here's some more salt,- said the King. Can you bake pretzels now?
- I can't,- answered the Queen. - Someone has stolen my skillet.
- Skillet! - the King cried in anger. - Well, let's find it then!

This time, the suspects were the Frog, the Groom-Pike, and the Jack of Hearts. At the trial, they made the following statements:

Frog. The Groom-Pike stole the skillet.

Groom-Pike. Your Majesty, I did not steal any skillet.

Jack of Hearts. I stole the skillet!

- What a helper of justice you turned out to be! the King shouted at the Jack of Hearts. - You can't open your mouth without lying!

It turned out that no more than one of the defendants was lying.

Who stole the skillet?

![](https://cdn.mathpix.com/cropped/2024_05_21_5afa4e43618f5800e92dg-024.jpg?height=1025&width=1040&top_left_y=1095&top_left_x=545)
9. The sixth story. If the pan was stolen by Froggy, then both he and the Jack of Hearts lied, which is excluded by the conditions of the problem. If the pan was stolen by the Lackey-Perch, then both he and the Jack of Hearts lied, which is also excluded by the conditions of the problem. Therefore, the pan was stolen by the Jack of Hearts (strange as it may seem, but in his testimony at the trial he told the truth, as did the Lackey-Perch).