Once, a small village farmer had the misfortune of owing a large sum of money to a village moneylender. The moneylender was old, unmarried and fancied of marrying the farmer’s beautiful daughter. One day the farmer went to the moneylender to ask him for some more time to return the loan. The money lender pretended to be furious for a while and then proposed a bargain. He said that if the farmer would not repay his debt, he would be punished or he had an option to let the money lender marry his daughter and all his debt would be waived.
Both the farmer and his daughter were horrified by the proposal. There was no way the farmer could pay back the money soon and he did not want his beautiful daughter to marry the old and cruel money lender.
The cunning moneylender suggested that they let the providence decide the matter. In an attempt to persuade the farmer to accept his deal, the money lender made an attractive condition in deciding the fate of the father and daughter. He would keep a black and a white pebble in a bag. The girl then had to choose a pebble which would decide her fate. If she picked the black pebble, she would have to marry the money lender and her father’s debt would be forgiven. If she picked the white pebble she did not need marry the money lender and her father’s debt would still be forgiven. If she refuses t pick the pebble, the farmer would be thrown into jail.
They were standing on a path scattered with pebbles. The moneylender even called the nearby villagers to witness the event, so that no party could walk away from their words. The money lender bent over, picked two pebbles and kept it in a money bag. The sharp eyed girl noticed that he had picked two black pebbles instead of a black and a white. He then asked the girl to pick a pebble from the bag.
The girl was confused what to do. She knew that she was being cheated by the money lender. She thought for a while and then kept her hand into the moneybag and drew out a pebble. Without looking or showing it to anyone, she fumbled and let it fall into the pebble-strewn path where it got lost among the other pebbles.
“ Oh, I am sorry, how clumsy of me”, she said. “ But never mind, if you look into the bag for the one that is left, we will know which pebble I picked.”
The moneylender dared not admit his dishonesty in front of the villagers. The black pebble in the bag made it look like the girl had chosen the white pebble. She did not have to marry the old moneylender and her father ‘s debt was waived. The villagers were there to witness the whole event which made the moneylender to keep his words.
The girl changed seemingly impossible situation into an extremely advantageous one.
There is always a way out of problems, don’t give up your hopes and keep trying to look for solutions.
