English Original
Long ago, there was a king in India whose favorite game was chess.
One day, a wise old man visited the kingdom. The king challenged him to a game and promised, "You may claim any prize if you win."
The old man replied, "If I win, I would like one grain of rice for the first square on the chessboard, two for the second, four for the third, and then double the amount for each subsequent square."
"Is that all?" asked the king, surprised. "Would you not prefer gold or silver instead?"
"No," the old man said firmly. "Just rice."
They played for a long time, and finally, the old man won. The king ordered his servants to bring a bag of rice. He placed one grain on the first square, two on the second, and continued doubling the amount for each new square. The king soon realized the grave problem: even with all the rice in his kingdom, there would not be enough to cover all 64 squares of the chessboard.
中文翻译
很久以前，印度有一位国王，他最喜欢的游戏是国际象棋。
一天，一位智慧的老者来到王国。国王向他发起挑战，并许诺：“如果你赢了，可以要求任何奖赏。”
老者回答：“如果我赢了，我只要一些米粒：棋盘第一个格子放一粒米，第二个格子放两粒，第三个格子放四粒，之后每个格子的米粒数量都是前一个格子的两倍。”
“就这些吗？”国王惊讶地问，“你难道不想要金子或银子吗？”
“不，”老者坚定地说，“只要米。”
他们下了很久的棋，最终老者获胜。国王命令仆人拿来一袋米。他在第一个格子放了一粒米，第二个格子放了两粒，并持续为每个新格子加倍米粒数量。国王很快意识到了严重的问题：即使倾尽王国所有的米，也不足以放满棋盘上的64个格子。