This Tale originally appeared as a serial in The Monthly Packet beginning in

April 1880. The writer’s intention was to embody in each Knot (like medicine

so dexterously, but ineffectually, concealed in the jam of our early

childhood) one or more mathematical questions — in Arithmetic, Algebra, or

Geometry, as the case might be — for the amusement, and possible

edification, of the fair readers of that magazine.

L. C. December 1885.
To My Pupil

Beloved Pupil! Tamed by thee,

Addish-, Subtrac-, Multiplica-tion,

Division, Fractions, Rule of Three,

Attest thy deft manipulation

Then onward! Let the voice of Fame

From Age to Age repeat thy story,

Till thou hast won thyself a name

Exceeding even Euclid’s glory.