Wisdom story: The case of the missing pouch full of gold coins

There was once a village that was very well-known for growing only rice and people in the village had been doing so for generations. All of the villagers worked for the richest family in the village, which owned all the land near and far. The villagers would mostly get paid in rice, but a little bit of their wage was in coins so that they could buy what they didn’t grow in the faraway villages. As you can imagine with conditions like this most of the villagers stayed poor most of their lives and felt like their lives depended on the rich family and their generosity. Things didn’t change much in this village, but one day the owner of the rice fields had an accident. Traveling on his horse while crossing a bridge the old man’s horse got scared and in a moment of fear threw the old man off its back. The old man fell into the river and had a hard time swimming as the current was strong. As all of this was happening there was a worker nearby walking home from a long day of work. The worker recognized that the man who fell into the river was the owner of the rice fields and without hesitation jumped into the river to save him. As the two were carried down the river more and more people saw them in trouble but no one was willing to jump in the river to help them. The villagers quickly notified the landlord’s relatives and they organized a rescue party. But unfortunately, they were too late. They found the two bodies a few miles down the river, the old man still holding onto the worker. When the owner of the rice fields was buried everyone came to the funeral, but when the worker who tried to save the old man was buried only his wife and three sons attended the funeral. The family of the worker was devastated by their loss. They also had no means to survive now as the father was the only one working and providing for them. Kai the oldest son tried to get his father’s job at the rice fields but the new owners didn’t want to give it to him.

From then on, the family ate more sparsely, getting by on occasional jobs that the mother and Kai could get. Every day when Kai didn’t find work he went to the rice fields and asked to get his father’s job, because he knew that there he would earn enough to provide for at least one hot meal every day for his family and his brothers could continue their education which they had to stop when their father died. One day, as he was going home from the plantation, where his request for work had again been refused, he noticed a small leather pouch on the ground covered with dirt so that it was barely visible. He picked it up and checked if there was anything in it. In it, he found fifteen beautiful new shiny gold coins that were now his. His first thought was that his mother would now finally be able to stop working, his brothers would be able to go to school again, and they would be able to eat whatever they wanted. When he returned home he brought with him food, toys for his brothers, several blankets, and two beautiful dresses for his mother. This was a magical moment for them. After a big dinner, Kai gave the gifts, and when the younger brothers went to sleep tired from playing, Kais’ mother asked him where all of this came from. Kai told his mother the whole story, how he found the pouch, and what he did afterward. His mother insisted that the money was not his and that he had to find the rightful owner of the leather pouch and everything that was in it. Kai didn’t agree with his mother and argued that with this many gold coins, they would be without any worry until his younger two brothers were old enough to provide for themselves. No matter what Kai said his mother insisted that he finds the rightful owner and returns the leather pouch and all the gold coins that were in it. “It’s what your father would want,” were the words that finally made Kai change his mind. He agreed to try to find the owner of the leather pouch and return everything to them, but if he would be unable to find them after a month the pouch and the gold coins in it would be his to keep. And for the two gold coins he had already spent he promised he would offer his services so he would pay off his debt.

The next day Kai arrived at the place where he found the leather pouch. It was halfway from the rice plantation and the place where his father jumped into the river to save the previous owner of the rice plantation. So he decided to go to the plantation and ask the new owner if they might have been missing anything. Sure enough, as soon as he arrived there the new owner recognized the leather pouch in Kais’ hand and started to accuse Kai that he stole the pouch the last time he was in his office asking for his father’s job and Kai brought it back in fear of the new owner finding out what had really happened. Kai denied the accusations and told everyone where he found the leather pouch. The new owner demanded that Kai immediately hands over the pouch and as soon as he did the owner shook all the gold coins into his other palm and began to count them. While counting, Kai interrupted him and mentioned that there are only thirteen coins left and that he had spent two gold coins and was ready to repay them by working on the rice plantation as his father did before. The new owner immediately starts yelling at Kai that he is a thief and that he will teach him what happens to people who steal from him. Kai saw that the new owner wasn’t willing to listen to him or calm down, so he turned around and went home, where he told his mother what has happened. The mother consoled him that she will go to talk to the new owner the next day and that she will solve the matter. However, the next day, even before they had managed to eat breakfast, the judge’s messenger came to them with an invitation to the court where they would solve the case of the theft of twenty gold coins.

The same day Kai and his mother arrive at the court, where the new owner of the plantation was already waiting. As soon as they arrived, the trial began, and the owner of the plantation was first to speak. He told the judge that he had a leather pouch with twenty gold coins on his desk in the office. But then a couple of days ago after Kai arrived at his office asking for his father’s job the leather pouch was nowhere to be found. So there was no doubt that Kai took his leather pouch full of gold coins because he didn’t hire him. When the judge asked the new owner of the plantation why did Kai bring back the leather pouch the owner replied Kai was most likely afraid that he the owner would find out what had happened and would report Kai to the authorities and Kai would end up in prison. When the owner of the plantation finished his testimony, the judge turned to Kai and asked him for his side of the story. Kai told the judge how he found the leather pouch with fifteen gold coins, and how he spent two of them to provide food, clothing, and other stuff for his family, and how his mother convinced him to return the leather pouch with the gold coins and an offer to work off the debt for the already spent gold coins. 

After both testimonies, the judge took a little bit of time to think about the case. When he finally spoke he asked Kai again how many gold coins were in the leather pouch he found on the ground between the plantation and the river. Kai replied that there were fifteen of them and that he had taken two of them before returning them. Then the judge asked the plantation owner how many gold coins were in his leather pouch that was in his office on the table. The owner of the plantation told the judge that there were twenty gold coins in the leather pouch when it disappeared and that Kai gave him a leather pouch with only thirteen gold coins. The judge looked sharply at Kai first and asked again, “You swear that there were only fifteen gold coins in the leather pouch when you found him?” “I swear!” answered Kai. Then the judge looks sharply at the plantation owner and asks him, “You swear there were twenty gold coins in the leather pouch when it disappeared?” “I swear!” replies the plantation owner. The judge leaned back for a moment and then leaned forward ready to give his verdict, “Plaintiff and defendant, although everything seemed rather unclear at the beginning, it has now become clear. I have no reason to doubt the words of the plantation owner, who swore that his leather pouch with twenty pieces of gold coins disappeared from his desk in his office. Nor do I have any reason to doubt Kai’s words who claims to have found a leather pouch on a dusty road with only fifteen pieces of gold. It is obvious that the leather pouch that was found and brought to the rice plantation owner is not the same as the one lost by the rice plantation owner in his office.  With all these facts presented my ruling is that Kai and his family cannot be charged for stealing the leather pouch from the owner of the rice plantation which contained twenty gold coins.  As for the second leather pouch which had fifteen gold coins, my decision is as follows. No one has yet claimed it, and given the circumstances, it seems unlikely that anyone will. Therefore, I rule that this leather pouch and its content belong to Kai now who has found it.”