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THE PEBBLE STORY
Many years ago in a small Chinese village,
a farmer had the
misfortune of owing a large sum of money to the 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.
If she 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.
All the villagers 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 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 to the Girl to do?
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Well, what she did was :
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. Anyway, cheat won't win.