Moral of the Story

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 farmer'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 horrified by the proposal. So
the cunning money-lender 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 would have to pick one pebble from the bag.

1) If she picked the black pebble, she would
become his wife and her father's debt would be
forgiven.

2) If she picked the white pebble she need not
marry him and her father's debt would still be
given.

3) 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?
Careful analysis would produce three 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 money-lender
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 appreciate the difference between lateral and
logical thinking.
The girl's dilemma cannot be solved with
traditional logical thinking. Think of the
consequences if she chooses the above logical
answers.

What would you recommend the Girl 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 onto the pebble-strewn path where it
immediately became lost among 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 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.

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