Solving the Classic Riddle of 'As I Was Going to St. Ives'
This riddle is a classic brainteaser known as "As I was going to St. Ives." It often catches people off guard because it encourages one to calculate the total number of wives, sacks, cats, and kits. However, the key to solving it is in the wording of the riddle itself.
The riddle says, "On my way to St. Ives, I met a man with seven wives..." It doesn't actually say that the man with the seven wives (and all the associated sacks, cats, and kits) was going to St. Ives; it only states that you met him on your way there. Therefore, the only person explicitly stated to be going to St. Ives is the speaker, i.e., "I".
The answer to the question "How many were going to St. Ives?" is therefore one – just the narrator or the person posing the riddle.
