Act Smartly

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

He said he would forgo the Feng's debt if he could marry his daughter. Both the farmer and his daughter Mei were horrified by the proposal. So the cunning money-lender suggested that they let the king decide the matter. He told them that he would put a black pebble and a white pebble into an empty money bag. Then Mei would have to pick one pebble from the bag.

If Mei picked the black pebble, she would become his wife and her father's debt would be forgiven.If she picked the white pebble she need not marry him and her father's debt would still be forgiven. But if she refused to pick a pebble, her father would be thrown into jail.

They were standing on a pebble strewn 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 field. What would you have done if you were the girl? If you had to advise her, what would you have told her?

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Well, here is what she did ....

The daughter put her hand into the moneybag and drew out a pebble.  Without looking at it, she fumbled and let it fall onto the pebble-strewn path where it immediately became lost among all the other pebbles.

"Oh, how clumsy of me," Mei said. "But never mind, if you look into the bag for the one that is left, you will 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 money-lender dared not admit his dishonesty, the girl changed what seemed an impossible situation into an extremely advantageous one.