Hundreds of years ago, a man owed a large sum of money to a greedy money lender. The money lender was a very old, unattractive looking guy. He had an intention to marry the business owner’s daughter.
As the interest grew, the man was not in a position to pay back the money he borrowed, not even the interest. The money lender realized that the time is ripe and he decided to offer the businessman a deal. He told the man that he would completely wipe out the debt the man owed him, if he could marry the businessman’s daughter.
The man was sad, but without option. Many people talked to the money lender and said that it was cruel to marry such a young beautiful girl against her wish. More over the money lender was very old and ugly.
The money lender said that there can be a gamble so that everyone has a fair chance. He would place two pebbles into a bag, one white and one black.
The daughter would then have to reach into the bag and pick out a pebble. If it was black, the debt would be wiped-out, but the money lender would then marry her. If it was white, the debt would also be wiped, but the daughter wouldn’t have to marry the money lender.
The village community said that is a fair deal. The man also agreed because at any cost the loan would be wiped out.
Suddenly the money lender picked up two pebbles in front of the village folks and put them in a bag.
The man’s daughter prayed to God to show a way out of this.
Whilst the money lender was picking the pebbles up, the daughter noticed that he’d picked up two black pebbles and placed them both into the bag.
He then asked the daughter to reach into the bag and pick one.
The daughter naturally had three choices as to what she could have done:
- Refuse to pick a pebble from the bag.
- Take both pebbles out of the bag and expose the loan-shark for cheating.
- Pick a pebble from the bag fully well knowing it was black and sacrifice herself for her father’s freedom.
She picked out a pebble from the bag, and before opening her palm and looking at the pebble, she ‘accidentally’ dropped it into the midst of the other pebbles.
She said to money lender;
“Oh, how careless I am. I am very sorry. Never mind, if you look into the bag for the one that is left, you will be able to tell which pebble I picked.”
The villagers agreed. The pebble left in the bag is obviously black. The money lender had no option and he didn’t want to be exposed. He had to play along as if the pebble the daughter dropped was white as he was having black pebble, and clear her father’s debt.
Moral of the story:
It’s always possible to overcome a tough situation through belief in God, and not give in to the only options you think you have to pick up from.
An old story slightly modified. Author Unknown
