If the question ‘Are you a Sacha or a Jhuta?’ is asked to a tribesman from that island, his reply would always be ‘Sacha’ irrespective of the tribe he belongs to because if he were a Sacha he must call a spade a spade and if he were a Jhuta he must lie about his actual tribe and, consequently, say that he is a Sacha. However, if the same tribesman is next asked ‘What did you say?’ the answer would be ‘Sacha’ if he were a Sacha, but must change to ‘Jhuta’ if he were actually a Jhuta as, once again, in the latter case he must lie about the answer he would have given previously. In other words, if the tribesman is to tell what would have been his answer had he been asked the question ‘Are you a Sacha or a Jhuta?’ it is not possible for him to hide the truth. The foregoing suggests that in order to extract the truth in a single question the two direct questions should be reformed into one indirect question. The question Nancy asked was-
‘Had I asked you whether you were a Sacha or a Jhuta, what would you have said?’