an incredible book, a classic beloved by people worldwide
|
This book is simply magic -- an amazing puzzle that kept people fascinated worldwide for years before the solution was revealed. NOTE: GET THE BOOK WITHOUT READING THE SOLUTION THAT HAS BEEN PUBLISHED AND ALSO FOOLISHLY POSTED IN THE OTHER USER REVIEW ON THIS PAGE -- you will have more fun.
The illustrations are simply incredible and engrossing, and the puzzle is really an adventurous mind game.
|
|
|
Kit Williams tells the answer to the Riddle
|
The solution to the Masquerade puzzle is both elaborate and elegant: in each painting, lines should be drawn from each animal's eyes through their longest digits to a letter in the border. The resulting letters form individual words, revealed either by anagramming or by applying the order hinted at by the Sir Isaac Newton painting, in which all of the creatures of the book are represented as puppets hanging in a line from left to right.
Decoding and following this method reveals the nineteen-word message:
CATHERINE'S LONG FINGER OVER SHADOWS EARTH BURIED YELLOW AMULET MIDDAY POINTS THE HOUR IN LIGHT OF EQUINOX LOOK YOU
Taking the first letter indicated by each painting, the acrostic "CLOSE BY AMPTHILL" is revealed. Properly interpreted, the message told to dig near the cross-shaped monument to Catherine of Aragon in Ampthill Park, at the precise spot touched by the tip of the monument's shadow at the stroke of noon on the date of either the vernal or autumnal equinox.[1]
Many additional hints and "confirmers" are scattered throughout the book. For example, in the painting depicting the Sun and the Moon dancing around the Earth, the hands of the two figures are clasped together, pointing at the date of the spring equinox.
|
|
|
United States | 
United Kingdom | 
Canada