Many years ago in a small village near New Zealand, a chinstrap penguine called Gentu had the misfortune of owing a large sum of money to his village moneylender. The moneylender, who was old and ugly, fancied Gentu's beautiful daughter. So he proposed a bargain. He said he would forgo Gentu's debt if he could marry his daughter.
Both Gentu and his daughter were horrified by the proposal. So the cunning moneylender suggested that they let providence decide the matter. He told them that he would put a black pebble & a white pebble into an empty moneybag. Then the girl would have to pick one pebble from the bag.
If she picked the black pebble, she would become his 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 Gentu's little farm yard.
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 her to pick a pebble from the bag.
She paused a while to carefully analyze the situation; logically, she had three options;
Refuse to take a pebble.
Show to all that there were two black pebbles in the bag and expose the moneylender as a cheat.
Or Pick a black pebble and sacrifice herself in order to save her father from his debt and imprisonment.
She was caught in a dilemma but she was thinking quickly.
Let’s take a pause here, what would you recommend her to do?
Well, here is what she did....
She 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, Gentu’s daughter was able to change what seemed an impossible situation into an extremely advantageous one.
Most complex problems do have a solution!
