Tax Collection Custom

A research team went to a village somewhere between the jungles of Africa. Luckily for them, they reached the day when quite an interesting custom was to be performed. The custom was performed once a year as they confirmed and was performed in order to collect the taxes from every male of the region.

The taxes were to be paid in the form of grains. Everyone must pay pounds of grain equaling his respective age. This means a 20-year-old will have to pay 20 pounds of grain and a 30-year-old will pay 30 pounds of grain and so on.

The chief who collects the tax has 7 weights and a large 2-pan scale to weigh. But there is another custom that the chief can weigh only three of the seven weights.

Can you find out the weights of the seven weights? Also, what is the maximum age of the man that can be weighed for the payment of taxes?




Similar Riddles

I went to the bookshop and spent one-half of the money that was in my purse.

When I came out, I found that I had as many cents as I had dollars and half as many dollars as I had cents when I went in. Find the money in my purse when I entered the store.

Asked by Neha on 03 Nov 2024


John, Jack and Jill are in a desert. John doesn't like Jill and hence decides to murder him. He poisons the water supply of Jill. Since it is a desert area, Jill must drink or he will die of thirst.

Jack does not know of the actions of John and also decides to murder Jill. To succeed in his ill motives, he removes the water supply of Jill so he dies of thirst.

Jill dies due to thirst. Who murdered Jill?

Asked by Neha on 08 Aug 2023

What's the best place to go shopping in the ocean?

Asked by Neha on 31 Oct 2024


The more it dries, the wetter it becomes. Can you tell what it is?

Asked by Neha on 09 Mar 2023

I have branches, but no fruit, trunk or leaves. What am I?

Asked by Neha on 18 May 2022

Evil warlock dislikes dwarfs and therefore he selects four of them and buries them. The dwarfs are buried in the ground and they are in such a way that except for their heads, their body is inside the ground. The dwarfs cannot move their body and they can view only forward. They are all buried in a line, and amongst the four, one of the dwarfs is separated by a wall. All the dwarfs are in the same direction. The last dwarfs can see two heads of friends in the front and a wall. In the last second dwarf can see one head of his friend and a wall. The second dwarf can see only the wall. The dwarf can see nothing.
Warlock comprehends the situation and tells the dwarfs that he has placed hats on their heads. There are two blue hats and two red ones. In all four dwarfs, one of them has to say what colour hat he is wearing. If the dwarf says the correct colour of the hat, they will be left free. If the answer is wrong, then they will be dug inside the ground till the very end.

What will be the answer by the dwarf and how will they answer?

Asked by Neha on 14 May 2025


A girl rode into a tourist spot out of the city on Thursday. She loved the place and decided to stay for a few days. She stayed for four days and then she left for back home on Thursday.

How can this be possible?

Asked by Neha on 26 Mar 2023

Your last good ping-pong ball fell into a narrow metal pipe embedded one foot deep in concrete.
How can you get it out undamaged, if all the tools you have are your tennis paddle, shoe laces, and plastic water bottle, which does not fit into the pipe?

Asked by Neha on 10 Nov 2024

This is a most unusual paragraph. How quickly can you find out what is so unusual about it? It looks so ordinary, you'd think nothing was wrong with it. Actually, nothing IS wrong with it. But it is not as ordinary as you might think. If you think about it for a bit, you will find out why it is truly so unusual. So what is it? What is so unordinary about this paragraph?

Asked by Neha on 02 May 2022


What has a bottom at the top?

Asked by Neha on 20 Jul 2025

Hot Articles

Amazing Facts

Crossword puzzles

In the 1920s, people feared that crossword puzzles would contribute to illiteracy.