A farmer has to cross a river. She has on her side a fox, a hen and a bucket of corn. She has a boat that will only take herself and one other item. If she leaves the fox with the hen, the fox will eat the hen. If she leaves the hen with the corn, the hen will eat the corn.

How many variations of this puzzle are circulating, with each person telling it being bewildered by the other versions ?

One of my kid’s friends told me it is a goat, a wolf and a cabbage. I always thought the hen was a goose. And the bucket of corn was a sack of wheat. Wikipedia thinks they are a fox, goose and a bag of beans . Beans????

Personally, I like Randall Monroe’s solution: