Interesting Dilemma

[Sonnie]

Many years ago in a small Zezuru 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 young beautiful daughter. So the moneylender 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 damsel/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 and what your advice would be.

The above story is used with the hope that it will make us appreciate the difference between lateral and logical thinking. The girl's dilemma cannot be solved with traditional logical thinking. Think of the consequences if she chooses the above logical answers.

So what would you recommend to the girl to do?

Well, here is what she did... BEFORE YOU LOOK: Type your advice in a post below using the [spoiler] TAGs. Then look at what she did... don't cheat and change your advice after you look!

Spoiler

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. "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." 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; just change the way you think about them.



...

[basementjack]

good one!

[Sonnie]

What... no takers... everyone scared?

[Otto]

Ooops, I cheated...

It's a good "think outsid the box" problem, though!

[Bob in St. Louis]

Yes, that is a good one!! (Sorry, I peeked)

Bob

[muse77]

Hmmm.

Spoiler

I would suggest that the girl pick a pebble from the bag, then "accidently" drop it. The pebble would be mixed up with the other pebbles on the path so you wouldn't know which one it was. The only option left would be to pull out the last pebble which would be black also. The money lender would have to say that the pebble dropped was white or risk exposing himself as a cheat.

If I was the girl I would then get a slingshot and use the moneylender for target practice.

Bryan

[muse77]

YEA! YEA! I AM THE MAN!! WHOO! HOOO!

A blind hog finds a nut once in awhile.

Bryan

[drf]

I just can't think laterally like that, I had no hope, I also can't do cryptic crosswords.

It almost annoys me there are poeple out there who can think like that quick in the heat of the moment.

[muse77]

I failed miserably with the professional question and Sonnie's taunt

Sonnie wrote:

What... no takers... everyone scared?

was like a "double dog dare" which is taken very seriously . It was that incentive that I took a shot at this answer. If it's ok I would like to give a little clue on how I figured it out. First I assumed the story had enough info to figure it out. Then I eliminated everything that couldn't be part of the answer.

If you read the spoiler you will see what I mean. I don't want to say much more.

Have Fun
Bryan

[buggers]

I would say " I saw you put 2 black pebbles into the bag, However if I am wrong I will marry you and you will forgive my fathers debt. If I am correct then I will shoot you in the left eye, take all your possessions and enslave your family.

[SLAYER]

unless i had to choose one of the 3 options i would beat the out of him so instead he would expose himself in front of everyone .
if not i would advise of a clever way to expose him.
although she probably chose to marry him to save her father as was customary many many years ago.

[SLAYER]

good one