History of the Muddy Children Puzzle

The Muddy Children Puzzle is a puzzle about knowledge and ignorance that has been inspiring for the development of epistemic logic. Who came up with it first? This is unclear. In 'History of the Muddy Children Puzzle', Hans traces the origin of the Muddy Children Puzzle through logical and literary publications over the past two centuries. The earliest source is early 19th century France (barbichette, pince-sans-rire), travelling by way of Germany (19th century), Japan (1941, Dirac's riddle), USA (1942, Kraitchik), England (1953, Littlewood). From the 1950s onward it is everywhere, and of course very present in 'Reasoning about Knowledge' by Fagin, Halpern, Vardi and Moses.

Hans is very interested in novel information on historical sources from before 1950. Since posting it, he already obtained: a translation of a relevant part from a 1941 Japanese detective novel by Takataro Kigi, and a publication by Jacques Lacan from 1949 starting a parallel history of muddy children in psychoanalysis. A persistent rumour connects a young Alonzo Church to the riddle in the 1930s. He could not confirm it, despite detailed search in the Church Archive. Any further information, from any source and in any language (or script) will be appreciated.