Many years ago in a  small Indian village,

 

A farmer had the misfortune of owing a large  sum of money to a village moneylender. The Moneylender, who was old and  ugly, fancied the farmer's beautiful Daughter. So he proposed a  bargain.

 

He said he would  forgo the farmer's debt if he could marry his Daughter. Both the farmer  and his daughter were horrified by the Proposal.
 

So the cunning  money-lender suggested that they let Providence decide the matter. He told  them that he would put a black Pebble and a white pebble into an empty  money bag. Then the girl would have to pick one pebble from the  bag.

 

1) If she picked the black pebble, she would become his wife  and her father's debt would be forgiven.

 

2) If she picked the white  pebble she need not marry him and her father's debt would still be  forgiven.
 

3) 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  farmer's field. As They talked, the moneylender bent over to pick up two  pebbles. As he Picked them up, the sharp-eyed girl noticed that he had  picked up two Black pebbles and put them into the bag.

 

He then  asked the girl to pick A pebble from the bag.

 

Now, imagine that you  were standing in the field. What would you have Done if you were the girl?  If you had to advise her, what would you Have told her?

 

Careful  analysis would produce three possibilities:

 

1 The girl should  refuse to take a pebble.
 

2. The girl should show that there were two  black pebbles in the bag And expose the money-lender as a cheat.

 

3.  The girl should pick a black pebble and sacrifice herself in order To save  her father from his debt and imprisonment.
 

Take a moment to ponder over  the story. The above story is used with The hope that it will make us  appreciate the difference between lateral And logical thinking.

T

he  girl's dilemma cannot be solved with Traditional logical thinking. Think  of the consequences if she chooses The above logical answers.
What  would you recommend to the Girl to do?
Try to answer  before scrolling down.
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.     Well, here is what she did  ....

 

The girl put her hand into the moneybag and drew out a pebble.  Without Looking at it, she fumbled and let it fall onto the pebble-strewn  path Where it immediately became lost among all the other  pebbles.

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Oh, how clumsy of me," she said. "But never mind, if you  look into the Bag for the one that is left, you will be able to tell which  pebble I Picked."

 

So since the remaining pebble is black, it must be  assumed that she had Picked the white one. And since the money-lender  dared not admit his Dishonesty, the girl changed what seemed an impossible  situation into An extremely advantageous one. 

 

MORAL OF THE STORY: 
 

Most  complex problems do have a solution.

It is only that we don't attempt to  think.