Many
hundreds of years ago in a small Italian town, a merchant had the
misfortune of owing a large sum of money to the moneylender. The
moneylender, who was old and ugly, fancied the merchant's beautiful
daughter so he proposed a bargain. He said he would forgo the
merchant's debt if he could marry the daughter. Both the merchant and
his daughter were horrified by the proposal.
The
moneylender told them that he would put a black pebble and a white
pebble into an empty bag. The girl would then have to pick one pebble
from the bag. If she picked the black pebble, she would become the
moneylender's wife and her father's debt would be forgiven. If she
picked the white pebble she need not marry him and her father's debt
would still be forgiven. 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 merchant's garden. 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 her pebble from the bag.
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 moneylender 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.
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
moneylender dared not admit his dishonesty, the girl changed what
seemed an impossible situation into an advantageous one.
The above story is used with the hope that it will make us appreciate the difference between lateral and logical thinking.
