[ckosidows]

Lion ->

<-

Goat ->

<- Lion

Cabbage ->

<-

Lion ->

[bitshiftfaced]

I got:

Goat ->

<-

Lion ->

<- Goat

-> Cabbage

<-

-> Goat

[px43]

The Lion immediately eats the cabbage in step 1.

[cbovis]

To be fair the puzzle never explicitly states anyone would eat anything. Perhaps the lion simply can't stand the thought of being alone with a cabbage and kicks it in the river.

The key is understanding the constraints and what would be an acceptable amount of bending whilst keeping to the spirit of the game.

It's never explicitly stated that you can't take things back with you so that's your "aha" loophole. Throwing all three of them across at the same time because it turns out you're a giant wouldn't be in the spirit of the game.

[bitshiftfaced]

Oops, I had "goat eats cabbage" in my head.

[vecinu]

Why doesn't this work?

Lion ->

<-

Cabbage ->

<-

Goat->

[humanizersequel]

Not allowed to leave the lion and the cabbage together

[dtkirby]

You're leaving the lion alone with the cabbage while you fetch the goat. The lion will eat the cabbage.

[EGreg]

The goat will eat the cabbage?

[8note]

The goat does not eat cabbage in this set up. That is the trick

[int_19h]

It's actually not explicitly stated:

"I am not allowed to leave the cabbage and lion alone together, and I am not allowed to leave the lion and goat alone together."

It says nothing about the cabbage and the goat. It would not be unreasonable to infer that you aren't allowed to leave the cabbage and the goat together, based on how goats normally behave.

Of course, that makes the puzzle unsolvable, which is why humans will catch onto it pretty fast.