Problem solving story: Who is obligated to pay the "mountain" tax

Once upon a time, there lived a magical dragon that no one could see or hear and no one knew it existed. The only way it could communicate with people was through their dreams, where it could appear as anything it wished, be it an animal, item, or person. As people fell asleep and started dreaming the magical dragon would enter their dreams, and see their thoughts, their memories, and all of their wishes. The magical dragon felt fulfilled when it could make dreams come true for people that were good. Sometimes when the magical dragon wanted to do good and made a wish come true it inadvertently caused a change in a person’s behavior and that person started taking advantage of other people. In such cases, the magical dragon felt obligated to intervene and create new situations in which it would try to get the person to change his or her way. If that didn’t work the magical dragon took away what it gave and went on.

One day the magical dragon stopped at a village by a big forest it had never been to before. So it took its time and visited the dreams of every villager. After a few days, the dragon found out about a wish most of the villagers had. Almost all of them wished that they wouldn’t have to travel for two days to get to the nearest mountain where some would pick herbs, some would hunt, and others would just go there to clear their minds by walking on the trails or climbing the highest peak. So one night after every villager fell asleep the magical dragon created the most beautiful and highest mountain any of the villagers had ever seen right next to the “forest village”. When the villagers woke up they could hardly believe their eyes, but never the less they were more than happy to accept this miracle. The first couple of days villagers would spend most of their time when the sun was up exploring the mountain and during the night they would share with each other what they had found. The mountain had a bit of everything for everyone, from easy to more challenging hiking routes, steep mountain sides for climbing, different trees, and other plants for preparing medicine as well as a small waterfall with a lake at the end. The mountain was perfect and the villagers were the happiest they have ever been. The mountain gained even more charm when animals from near and far came to live there. Soon people from all over the kingdom came to visit the “forest village” to see the mountain and some decided to stay. With more and more people with different skills and knowledge staying the village soon grew and was considered one of the biggest villages at that time. The magical dragon seeing all of this was satisfied with what he did and decided to move on.

After one year the magical dragon decided to return to the “forest village” and see how things turned out. To his surprise, he noticed that the villagers build a fence around the mountain and posted guards to keep people out. The only way people could visit the mountain was through checkpoints where they would have to pay for each person that wanted to enter no matter their age, and reason for visiting. The magical dragon decided to teach the villagers some humility by moving the mountain to a different village, but which village would deserve such a gift? It didn’t take long for the dragon to find a village by a great lake, not far from this one in which the villagers lived and worked in harmony not only sharing what they had with each other but also with strangers. So one night when everyone was asleep the dragon moved the mountain to the “lake village”. And when the sun came up the people in the “forest village” were shocked and disappointed while the people in the “lake village” were amazed and happy about the gift they had received. This time the dragon decided to stay for a bit longer and observe how the villagers of the “lake village” would react. After months of observing the villagers, the dragon saw no change in their behavior, no greed, no rudeness, nothing like what he had witnessed in the “forest village”. After all, this time observing he decided to travel further but made a promise to return someday.

The “lake village” was becoming famous for its new mountain and the people from the “forest village” heard about it, so they decided to investigate. The ambassador from the “forest village” traveled for two days before he reached the “lake village” and right from the moment he arrived, he recognized the mountain. The ambassador stayed in the “lake village” for one week learning everything he could about the people and the mountain. When he gathered all the information he could, he returned to his village and shared it with the village elders and leader. The first instinct they had was to go to war over the mountain, but this idea quickly faded because even if they would have won they wouldn’t have had any means to get the mountain back to their village. The next idea was to somehow get money from the “lake village” for taking the mountain. After some thought, the leader of the “forest village” decided to go to the “lake village” and demand a “mountain” tax. The village elders agreed and with their blessing, the village leader traveled to the “lake village”. Once he arrived there he demanded to meet with their village leader and their elders. At the meeting, he explained the reason for being there and his demand, which was simple and fair by his account, “For taking and using our mountain on your land you are obligated to pay a “mountain tax”. If you decide not to do so then we will take this matter up with the king, and you know he does not take kindly to people who cheat others of what is owed to them.” The elders and the leader of the “lake village” agreed to pay the “mountain tax” as they couldn’t argue that the mountain was not on their land and they didn’t want to have any problems with the king.

Several years have passed since the “lake village” started paying the “mountain tax” to the “forest village”. As fate would have it the eldest son of the “lake village” leader returned from his studies in a distant land and did not know about the situation with the mountain. When his father explained what had happened since he was away the son immediately argued they were not obligated to pay the so-called “mountain tax” and if anything the “forest village” should pay them. The eldest son argued his reasoning with his father and the elders, and they agreed to give him a chance to negotiate better terms with the “forest village”. Immediately they send a messenger and invited the leader from the “forest village” to discuss the “mountain tax” which he gladly accepted as he had plans to raise the tax and was looking for a way to do so. When the meeting started the leader of the “forest village” demanded to speak first, which he was allowed, and to the surprise of everyone there demanded a higher payment of the tax. After he was finished the eldest son of the “lake village” leader stood up and told his demands, “Dear sir it is my job to inform you that your demand will not be met as we are not obligated to pay you anything. I have to inform you that you have been unlawfully demanding and collecting taxes from us, which you will have to return, and not only that you are obligated to pay us the “mountain tax” for all the years that your mountain is on our land. We will be reasonable and demand the same tax you have until now, but for the future, we will have to insist on the amount you have proposed yourself at the start of the meeting.” The leader of the “forest village” was furious and objected to this demand, and started threatening them with the king’s justice. But before he could threaten them more the eldest son from the “lake village” stopped him and explained, “I doubt your threats have any meaning. But if you wish we can summon the king to solve this situation. I will write to him personally since I know him for years as I studied matters of law and tax at his court with his son who is a good friend of mine. So how do you wish to proceed?” With that being said the leader of the “forest village” agreed to pay back all the amount they had collected and to pay the same amount of tax for the same period, as also he agreed to pay higher tax from now on.

After a couple of months, the magical dragon finally arrived at the “lake village” to see how his gift was being used. It didn’t take him long before he learned about the “mountain tax” being used again. The magical dragon felt so disappointed and decided to move the mountain to a faraway village by the sea he had just spent some time in. The people there were very hospitable and generous and had never taken advantage of anybody since he was there. The only thing the villagers wished for was to have a nearby small island they could go to and explore. So the magical dragon decided to move the mountain one more time, but this time the mountain wouldn’t be on land but in the sea with just a bit of it looking out of the water. The same night the dragon arrived, he waited for everyone to fall asleep, and again moved the mountain when no one was looking. This time the mountain appeared as an island not far from a village by the sea. In the morning when people in the “lake village” woke up and saw the mountain was gone were shocked, while the eldest son of the village leader didn’t feel surprised that much. He figured that since the “forest village” lost the mountain after they had enforced the “mountain tax” it was only a matter of time before the people in the “lake village” would face the same fate after they had also enforced the “mountain tax”.

This time the dragon decided to stay with the mountain for as long as he needed to to make sure the people wouldn’t start taking advantage of others because of his gift. The people in the village by the sea were at first a bit confused about where the island appeared from but after some brave villagers went to it and came back with tales of what they have seen, all of the villagers soon started visiting the island. The villagers were happy, and no one claimed the island as theirs. The island was there and everyone could enjoy its gifts. As luck would have it one day a merchant from the “forest village” happened to travel to the village by the sea and he instantly recognized the island as the mountain from his village, which then moved to the “lake village” and then disappeared from there also. The merchant quickly traveled to his home village where he told the leader what he discovered. And like the first time the leader from the “forest village” again felt like he had the right to claim the “mountain tax”. The leader of the “forest village” traveled to the village by the sea and at his arrival demanded to speak to the village leader and its elders. A feast was prepared in honor of their guest and after the feast, a meeting was held where the leader of the “forest village” explained that the island is actually a mountain and it is the property of the “forest village”. As such the village by the sea and its people are obligated to pay a “mountain tax” for using the mountain or as they now call it the island. The elders of the village by the sea started arguing about how that is unacceptable while the leader just calmly responded that they are not the ones obligated to pay the “mountain tax”. On the contrary, if anyone is obligated to pay the “mountain tax” it is the “forest village” that has to pay the “mountain tax” to the village by the sea since the mountain is on their land. Or if they prefer they could take it back right now when they leave and only pay for the time it has been here until now. The leader of the “forest village” at that time saw he made a mistake again and didn’t know how to get out of this situation.

Meanwhile, while all of this was going on the magical dragon was watching and listening. At this point, the dragon felt disappointed as people were again trying to take advantage of one another. But to the surprise of the dragon the leader of the village by the sea continued, and explained to his guest that if they stop pursuing this “mountain tax” they would also forget about it as it was never their intention to take advantage of others because of this gift, but they would rather share it. He even proposed some new houses would be built in the village so that the people from the “forest village” could come to their village and explore the island together with them. The leader of the “forest village” happily agreed and that was the end of the “mountain tax”. The magical dragon was now finally happy with how things turned out and decided to leave his gift with the village by the sea, but at the same time, he made a promise he would come back every couple of years and check how his gift was being used.