Out of the Box Thinking

Written By Millionaire’s Digest Team Member: Pradeep Shrivastava

Founder & Owner of: Pradeep Shrivastava

Millionaire’s Digest Team, Contributor, Blogging, Books, Entertainment, Family & Life, Successful Living Writer and Writing Writer

A long time ago in a small Indian town, a merchant had the misfortune of owing a large sum of money to a moneylender.

One evening the moneylender arrived at the merchant’s house, along with two royal guards and a couple of town elders.

“I will forgo all your debt if you marry your daughter to me.” The moneylender proposed to the merchant, who was standing in his garden along with his beautiful teenage daughter.

The merchant looked at his daughter and then turned his attention towards the old and ugly moneylender who fancied his daughter. “But… you are old enough to be her grandfather. How can you even think about marrying her?”

“If you don’t want me to marry your daughter, pay me my money immediately. Or I’ll send you to jail.”

“But, how can I clear your debt so soon. I need more time, maybe a couple of months?”

“As I said, pay me my debt now or I’ll send you to jail.”

After a couple of seconds of silence, the moneylender said. “Okay, I will make things simple for you. I will put a black and a white pebble in an empty moneybag. Your daughter will pick one pebble from that bag. If she picks the black pebble, your daughter will marry me and all your debt will be forgiven.”

“What if she picks the white pebble?” The merchant inquired.

“In that case, she does not have to marry me, unless she wants to, and your debt will still be forgiven.” The moneylender said as scanned the merchant’s daughter from top to bottom. “But if your daughter refuses to pick a pebble from the bag, you’ll be thrown into jail.”

The moneylender bent over and swiftly picked up a couple of pebbles. He slyly put two black pebbles into the moneybag and threw the remaining pebbles back on the ground, but the merchant’s daughter noticed his deceit.

“Pick up a pebble from the bag.” The moneylender said as he extended the moneybag towards the merchant’s daughter.

The girl thought. “If I refuse to pick a pebble, my father will be thrown into jail. If I pick up a pebble, since both of them are black, I will have to marry this pervert. If I expose the moneylender he will surely hurt my father, maybe not today but soon.”

“Come on! Pick up the pebble fast.” The moneylender said in a slightly raised voice.

With a smile on her face, the girl put her hand in the moneybag and drew out a pebble. Without looking at the pebble, she let it fall onto the pebble-strewn path on which they were standing. Making the pebble lost among the innumerable other pebbles.

“Oh God,” The girl said. “How clumsy of me, but if you look into the bag for the one that is left you will be able to tell which color pebble I picked.”

The moneylender knew that he had been outplayed in his own game and stood still for a couple of seconds.

“Go ahead, take out the stone from the moneybag and show us all.” One of the town elders said and the others nodded in agreement.”

The moneylender took out the black pebble from the money bag and showed it to everyone.

Even the most complex problems in life do have a solution, but sometimes we have to think in a different way to tackle them.

Article Credits: Pradeep Shrivastava

Millionaire’s Digest Team, Contributor