Seven

[Szczepan]

Reminds me of a riddle

As I was going to st. Ives I met a man with seven wives.
Seven wives had seven sacks, seven sacks had seven cats,
Seven cats had seven kittens.  Kittens cats sacks wives,
How many were going to st. Ives?

I'd forgotten that one! Thanks. (of course there was only one)

Beg to differ:  since we are not told, isn't it possible the "meeting" took place as the narrator overtook the catty menage?

Have always thought the same thing. People miss this possibility. You could have merely been going faster than the man, wives, kits, cats, etc. And that's how you met them ... maybe even at a rest area.