Farmer's Daughter

Many years ago in a small Indian village, a farmer had the misfortune of owing a large sum of money to a village moneylender. The moneylender, who was old and ugly, fancied the famrmer's beautiful daughter. So he proposed a bargain.

He said he would forgo the farmer's debt if he could marry his daughter. Both the farmer and his daughter were horified by the proposal. So the cunning moneylender suggested that they let providence decide the matter. He told them that he would put a black pebble and a white pebble into an empty money bag.

Then the girl wuld have to pick one pebble from the bag.
1) If she picked black pebble, she would become his wife & her father's debt would be forgiven.
2) If she picked the white pebble, she need not marry him & her father's debt would still be forgiven.
3) But if she refused to pick a pebble, her father would be thrown into jail.

They were standing on a pebble path in the farmer's field. As they talked, the moneylender bent over to pick up two pebbles. As he picked them up, the sharp-eyed girl noticed that he had picked up two black pebbles and put them into the bag. He then asked the girl to pick a pebble from the bag.

Now, imagine that you were standing in the filed. What would you have done if you were the girl? If you had to advise her, what would you have told her?

Careful analysis would produce 3 possibilities :
1. The girl should refuse to take a pebble.
2. The girl should show that there were two black pebbles in the bag and expose the moneylender as a cheat.
3. The girl should pick a black pebble and sacrifice herself in order to save her father from his debt and imprisonment.

Take a moment to ponder over the story. The above story is used with the hope that it will make us appricate the difference between lateral and logical thinking. The girl's dilemma could not be solved with traditional logical thinking. Think of the consequences if she chooses the above logical answers. What would you recommend her to do?

Well, here is what she did.

The girl put her hand into the moneybag and drew out a pebble. Without looking at it, she fumbled and let it fall oto the pebble-strwn path where it immediately became lost amng all the other pebbles. "Oh, how clumsy of me," she said. "But never mind, if you look into the bag for the one that is left, you'll be able to tell which pebble I picked."

Since the remaining pebble is black, it must be assumed that she had picked the white one. And since the moneylender dared not admit his dishonesty, the girl changed what seemed an impossible situation into an extremely advantageous one.

MORAL OF THE STORY : Most complex problems do have a solution. It is only that we don't attempt to think.