Short Story – Level 1 – Medium

The Market Riddle

Every Saturday morning, young Toma helped his grandmother sell fruit at the village market. She’d give him a basket of apples, a tray of pears, and a small crate of peaches to arrange on the stand.

One sunny morning, an old man in a green coat approached the stall. He studied the fruits carefully, then leaned in with a mischievous smile.

“I’ll take a basket like yours,” he said to Toma. “Same number of apples, pears, and peaches. But I want to guess how many of each you’ve got.”

Toma raised an eyebrow. “Alright – but you’ll have to solve it first.”

The old man grinned. “Give me three clues.”

Toma thought for a moment, then said:

1. “If you triple the number of apples and add the number of pears, you get 35.”
2. “If you double the number of pears and add the peaches, you get 34.”
3. “If you add all three – apples, pears, and peaches – you get 27.”

The old man nodded, eyes gleaming. “Three fruits. Three clues.”

Toma crossed his arms, amused. “So? Can you solve it?”

The old man chuckled, pulled a pencil from behind his ear, and started scribbling in the air.