>>Since, according to the premise, the mayor should know about at least 39 of the 40 unfaithful wives - and the other townsmen know that he knows - he will get into trouble for his understatement.
>
>Well, there is the taboo. It doesn't say that they can't say anything. Maybe the mayor decides to take unilateral action and be diplomatic about things at the same time.
>
>Unless his wife is also unfaithful, he should know exactly how many women will be shot and when.
I don't understand why anyone will be shot, if the mayor said something which everybody knew anyway. What new information is he giving?
Difference in opinions hath cost many millions of lives: for instance, whether flesh be bread, or bread be flesh; whether whistling be a vice or a virtue; whether it be better to kiss a post, or throw it into the fire... (from Gulliver's Travels)
