Seven

[just mercedes]

Reminds me of a riddle

As I was going to st. Ives I met a man with seven wives.
Seven wives had seven sacks, seven sacks had seven cats,
Seven cats had seven kittens.  Kittens cats sacks wives,
How many were going to st. Ives?

I'd forgotten that one! Thanks. (of course there was only one)

Beg to differ:  since we are not told, isn't it possible the "meeting" took place as the narrator overtook the catty menage?

Only one person was going to Saint Ives. If he or she crossed the path of the sevenwives, then the kittens, cats, sacks, and wives were all going in a different direction! (If everyone was going in the same direction, however, the answer would be 2,801 ? 7 wives, 49 sacks, 343 cats, and 2,401 kittens equal 2,800.

How Many Were Going to Saint Ives? - Brain Boosters

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Even that explanation leaves out the narrator, though.