THE KING AND THE GOLD BARS

There was a good and kindly King that was well respected and loved

by his subjects in his far-reaching kingdom.  This kingdom was revered,

and even envied, by all other kingdoms for the prosperity and happiness

enjoyed by all living there.  The King took great pride in this and when

issues arose that were less than desirable, preserving the ideal rule over

his dominion was of utmost importance to him.

One day his royal bean counter approached him with the news that the

tax levied on the subjects was not being met by all.  Each subject was

required to pay up in 10 gold bars at tax collection time.  This was

generally done with a glad heart because of the abundance enjoyed by all.

However, a consistent pattern developed whereby 10 gold bars each came up

10% lighter than required.  The bean counter was prepared to confront the

peoples to seek out the fraudulent subject, but the King would not hear

of it.  His overwhelming desire to preserve the healthy image of his

kingdom prevailed and so he wisely developed a plan to quietly ascertain

the guilty party.

To assure that the subjects had no reason to suspect foul play among

their peers the routine collection was to proceed as normal.  This is

to say that there would be a single weigh-in for every 10 subjects.  How

then was it possible, without weighing each collection separately, to

determine which subject was skimming 10% from their gold bars?

(If you cannot figure it out, send me an email and request the answer)