“In a small town in Italy, centuries ago, a small business owner owed a large sum of money to a loan shark. The loan shark was a very old, unsightly man who just happened to be in love with a business owner’s daughter.
He has decided to offer this businessman an agreement that will pay off his debts. However, the claim is that he will only cancel the debt if he marries the businessman’s daughter. Needless to say, this proposal was met with a look of disgust.
The shark-loan said he would put two small stones in the bag, one white and one black.
The daughter will have to go into the bag and pick up the stone. If it were dark, the debt would be canceled, but the lender would marry her. If it were white, the debt would be written off again, but the daughter would not have to marry the loan-shark.
Standing on a rocky outcrop in a businessman’s garden, the lending shark bent down and picked up two stones. While picking it up, the daughter noticed that she had picked up two black stones and put both of them in a bag.
He then asks his daughter to put his hand in the bag and pick one.
The daughter naturally had three decisions about what she could do:
Refuse to pick a stone in the bag.
Take both small stones out of the bag and expose the shark by cheating.
Pick a stone in the bag knowing full well that it is black and sacrifice for the sake of your father’s freedom.
He pulled the stone out of the bag, and before looking at it ‘accidentally’ he threw it among the other small stones. He said to the loan shark;
‘Oh, how it breaks me. Don’t worry, if you look in the bag to find the rest, you will be able to tell which stone I have chosen. ‘
The pebble left in the bag was obviously black, and seeing as the lender did not want to be exposed, he had to play with her like a discarded white stone, and erase her father’s debt. “
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Categories:Small Stories