The Farmer and the Miser

A farmer owed a large sum of money to a man in the neighboring village who was known to be a miser. The farmer was unable to pay back his debt. The miser was old and unattractive but he fancied the farmer’s beautiful daughter. So he proposed a deal: he would forgive the farmer’s debt if he could marry his daughter. Both the farmer and his daughter were horrified by the deal. So the miser suggested another idea — he would put a black pebble and a white pebble into an empty bag. Then the girl would pick one pebble from the bag. If she picked the black pebble, she would become the miser's wife and her father’s debt would be forgiven. If she picked the white pebble, she need not marry the miser and her father’s debt would still be forgiven. But if she refused to pick a pebble, her father would go to jail for not paying his debt.

The farmer and his daughter agreed to this plan and the miser bent over to pick up two pebbles. The daughter saw that he picked up two black pebbles and put them into the bag. He then asked her to pick a pebble from the bag. The young woman had to think fast — should she refuse to pick a pebble? Should she tell her father that she saw him pick up two black pebbles? Or should she just pick one of the two black pebbles and sacrifice herself in order to save her father from going to prison for his debt?

The girl put her hand into the bag and drew out a pebble. Without looking at it or showing it, she quickly dropped the pebble in the field where it immediately got lost among all the other pebbles. “Oh, I dropped the pebble,” she said. “But no problem, if we look into the bag at the one that is left, we will know which pebble I picked.” Since the remaining pebble was black, it would have to be assumed that she had picked the white one. And since the miser dared not admit his dishonesty, the daughter's quick thinking and her ability to "think outside the box" changed what seemed to be an impossible situation into a happy ending for herself and her father. It also outwitted the miser's dishonest plan and resulted in the miser getting exactly what he deserved — nothing!
(Adapted from a traditional teaching story)