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Showing posts with the label black and white pebble

This is Called Out of Box

OUT OF BOX Many hundreds of years ago in a small Italian town, a Merchant had the misfortune of owing a large sum of money to the Moneylender.  The moneylender, who was old and ugly, fancied the merchant’s beautiful daughter. So he proposed a bargain. He said he would forgo the merchant’s debt if he could marry the daughter. Both the merchant and his daughter were horrified by the proposal. The moneylender told them that he would put a black pebble and a white pebble into an empty bag. The girl would then have to pick one pebble from the bag. If she picked the black pebble, she would become the moneylender’s 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 merchant’s garden. As they talked, the moneylender bent over to pick up two pebbles. As he picked them up, the s