Thinking Outside the Box

A long time ago, in a small town in Italy, there lived a businessman. He had a big problem—he owed a lot of money to a mean and ugly loan-shark.

The loan-shark wanted to marry the businessman’s daughter. So, he gave an offer: “If your daughter marries me, I will forgive your debt.” The businessman and his daughter did not like this offer at all.

Then the loan-shark said, “Let’s make a fair deal. I will put two pebbles in a bag—one black and one white. If your daughter picks the white pebble, your debt is gone and she doesn’t have to marry me. But if she picks the black pebble, the debt is still gone, but she must marry me.”

They stood on a path full of pebbles. The loan-shark bent down and picked up two black pebbles (he was cheating!) and put them into the bag. The daughter saw this.

Now, she had three choices:

  1. Say no and not pick a pebble.
  2. Show that the man was cheating by taking out both pebbles.
  3. Pick a pebble, knowing both were black, and sacrifice herself for her father.

But she did something clever.

She picked a pebble but “accidentally” dropped it into the other pebbles on the ground. Then she said, “Oh no! I dropped it. But it’s okay—you can look in the bag and see which one is left. Then you will know which one I picked.”

The only pebble left in the bag was black. So, everyone had to believe she had picked the white one. The loan-shark could not say anything, or he would be caught cheating.

The daughter saved her father and didn’t have to marry the man.

Moral: When you face a hard situation, don’t give up. Use creative thinking. There may be a better solution than the ones in front of you.

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