My mother narrated this story to me the other day. She explained that every complex situation has a solution and that we should give it a try. Her advice has always helped me face various situations in my life. Hence I decided to share the story here.
Long long ago, in a small Indian village, there lived a farmer and his beautiful daughter. The farmer had the misfortune of owing a large sum of money to the village moneylender. The moneylender, who was old, ugly and cunning fancied the farmer's daughter and proposed a bargain that the farmer's debt would be forgiven if he married off his daughter to the moneylender. The farmer and his daughter were horrified listening to it. So were the villagers.
Upon this, the cunning moneylender suggested that they would let the divine providence decide their fate.
He suggested that he would put one black pebble and one white pebble into an empty money bag and ask the farmer's daughter to pick one from the bag. If the girl picked a black pebble, she would become his wife and her father's debt would be forgiven. If she picked a white pebble, she need not marry him and her father's debt would still be forgiven. But, if she refused to pick a pebble from the bag, her father would be imprisoned for the rest of his life.
So, on the decided day, when everyone was standing on a pebble strewn path and talking about the situation, the moneylender bent over to pick up two pebbles. But, the sharp eyed girl noticed that he had picked up two black pebbles on purpose and put it inside the empty moneybag and then asked the girl to pick one!
Now, imagine if you were the girl, what would you have done? Or if you had to advice the girl, what would you have told her? If you thought carefully, you'd see that there are three possibilities - Refuse to pick a pebble/ Expose the cunning nature of the moneylender by showing the villagers the two black pebbles/ Pick a black pebble and sacrifice her life in order to save her father from debt and imprisonment!
But, this is what the smart girl did -
The girl put her hand in the moneybag, drew out a pebble and without batting an eyelid, fumbled and dropped the pebble on the ground so that it got lost among the other pebbles on the path! Then she carefully said, "Oh, how clumsy of me. Never mind though. If you look at the pebble left in the bag, you'll know which color pebble I had picked".
Since the remaining pebble in the bag was black, everyone assumed she had picked the white one. Since the moneylender dared not admit his dishonesty, the girl changed an impossible situation into an extremely advantageous one without losing hope.
Moral of the story is that every complex situation has a solution. Also, the important thing about a problem is not the solution, but the strength we gain in finding the solution. We just have to keep trying without losing hope and we'll definitely come up with the best possible solution to any problem.
Long long ago, in a small Indian village, there lived a farmer and his beautiful daughter. The farmer had the misfortune of owing a large sum of money to the village moneylender. The moneylender, who was old, ugly and cunning fancied the farmer's daughter and proposed a bargain that the farmer's debt would be forgiven if he married off his daughter to the moneylender. The farmer and his daughter were horrified listening to it. So were the villagers.
Upon this, the cunning moneylender suggested that they would let the divine providence decide their fate.
He suggested that he would put one black pebble and one white pebble into an empty money bag and ask the farmer's daughter to pick one from the bag. If the girl picked a black pebble, she would become his wife and her father's debt would be forgiven. If she picked a white pebble, she need not marry him and her father's debt would still be forgiven. But, if she refused to pick a pebble from the bag, her father would be imprisoned for the rest of his life.
So, on the decided day, when everyone was standing on a pebble strewn path and talking about the situation, the moneylender bent over to pick up two pebbles. But, the sharp eyed girl noticed that he had picked up two black pebbles on purpose and put it inside the empty moneybag and then asked the girl to pick one!
Now, imagine if you were the girl, what would you have done? Or if you had to advice the girl, what would you have told her? If you thought carefully, you'd see that there are three possibilities - Refuse to pick a pebble/ Expose the cunning nature of the moneylender by showing the villagers the two black pebbles/ Pick a black pebble and sacrifice her life in order to save her father from debt and imprisonment!
But, this is what the smart girl did -
The girl put her hand in the moneybag, drew out a pebble and without batting an eyelid, fumbled and dropped the pebble on the ground so that it got lost among the other pebbles on the path! Then she carefully said, "Oh, how clumsy of me. Never mind though. If you look at the pebble left in the bag, you'll know which color pebble I had picked".
Since the remaining pebble in the bag was black, everyone assumed she had picked the white one. Since the moneylender dared not admit his dishonesty, the girl changed an impossible situation into an extremely advantageous one without losing hope.
Moral of the story is that every complex situation has a solution. Also, the important thing about a problem is not the solution, but the strength we gain in finding the solution. We just have to keep trying without losing hope and we'll definitely come up with the best possible solution to any problem.
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