TWO BROTHERS AND A BOX 

Credit: Lewis Carroll 

John gave his brother James a box:

About it there were many locks.

James awoke and cried in pain;

So gave it back to John again. 

The box was not with lid supplied, 

Yet caused two lids to open wide: 

And all these locks had never a key--- 

What kind of box, then, could it be?  

 

Answer: 

 

The solution, slightly modified here, is not by Lewis Carroll. Written in verse , it is attributed to "Eadgyth," which is probably the pen name of the editor of Aunt Judy's Magazine, in which the solution appeared in the January, 1871 issue.  

 

As curly-headed James was sleeping in bed, 

His brother John gave him a blow on the head;  

James opened his eyes, 

and spying his brother,  

Doubled his fist, 

and gave him another. 

This kind of box, then, is not so rare; 

The lids are the eyelids,

 the locks are the hair.  

A box to the ears, we can plainly see, 

 Is one that would never call for a key.