Problem solving story: The black and white pebble dilemma

Many years ago, in a small Indian village, a humble farmer found himself in a desperate situation. He had borrowed a large sum of money from a wealthy but cunning moneylender. As time passed, the farmer struggled to repay the debt, and now, the moneylender demanded payment. The moneylender was an old and unpleasant man, but he had his eye on something more valuable than money, he had his eyes on the farmer’s beautiful daughter. Seeing the farmer’s predicament, he proposed a deal. He told the farmer that he would erase the debt completely if the farmer agreed to let him marry his daughter. Both the farmer and his daughter were horrified. The thought of marrying this cruel man filled the daughter with fear, but she also knew that if they refused, her father would be punished and possibly thrown into jail. Seeing their hesitation, the moneylender proposed a different solution, one that appeared to be fair but was actually a trick. He suggested they let fate decide the matter. They were standing on a path covered with small pebbles. The moneylender announced that he would place one black pebble and one white pebble into an empty money bag. The farmer’s daughter would then pick one pebble from the bag.

“If you pick the black pebble,” the moneylender explained, “you will marry me, and your father’s debt will be forgiven. If you pick the white pebble, you will not have to marry me, and the debt will still be forgiven. But if you refuse to pick, your father will be thrown into jail.” The farmer and his daughter had no choice but to agree. As the moneylender bent down to pick up the two pebbles, the sharp-eyed daughter noticed something, he had picked up not one black and one white pebble, but two black pebbles! He had rigged the game so that she would have no chance of escaping marriage. The moneylender held out the bag and told the girl to pick. A silence fell over the group. The daughter knew that if she revealed his trick, he would find another way to punish them. She had to think quickly. With a calm and confident smile, she reached into the bag and drew out a pebble. But instead of looking at it, she let it slip through her fingers, and it fell onto the pebble-covered path. “Oh, how clumsy of me!” she said innocently. “But never mind. All we have to do is check the pebble that remains in the bag, and we’ll know which one I picked.” The moneylender’s face turned pale. He couldn’t admit that he had cheated by putting in two black pebbles. That would expose his dishonesty. Instead, he had no choice but to pretend that the missing pebble was white. And so, the girl had cleverly outwitted the trickster. She was free from the marriage, and her father’s debt was forgiven. The moneylender, embarrassed by his own scheme, could do nothing but walk away in defeat.