A merchant in London had the misfortune to owe a huge sum to a mean moneylender.
The moneylender who is old and ugly fancied the merchant's beautiful young daughter and he proposed a bargain.
He said he would cancel the merchant's debt if he could have the girl instead.
Both the merchant and his daughter were horrified by this suggestion. So the cunning moneylender proposed they let providence decide the matter.
He told them he would put a white pebble and a black pebble into an empty money bag and the girl would have to pick out one of the pebbles.
If she chose the black pebble, she would becomes his wife and her father's debt would be cancelled. If she chose the white pebble, she would stay with her father and the debt would still be cancelled. But if she refused to pick a pebble, her father would be thrown into jail and she would starve.
Reluctantly, the merchant agreed.
They were standing on a pebble stone path on the merchant's garden at the time which they talked. And the moneylender stood down to pick up the two pebbles. As he did, the girl surprised with fright, noticed that he picked up two black pebbles and put them into the money bag. He wasn't taking any chances.
He then asked the girl to pick up the pebble that was to decide her fate and that of her father.
Now imagine you were standing in that path in the merchant's garden, what would you have done if you had been the girl? If you had to advice her, what would you advice her to do?
A - The girl should refuse to take a pebble.
B - The girl should show that there are two black pebbles in the bag and expose the moneylender as a cheat.
C - The girl should take the black pebble and sacrifice herself in order to save her father from prison.
If the girl does take a pebble, then she has to marry the moneylender. If not, her father goes to prison.
The girl in the story put her hand into the money bag and drew out a pebble. Without looking at it, she fumbled and let it fall onto the path where it is immediately lost among all the others. Oh, how clumsy am me, she said. But never mind. Let's look into the bag. You would be able to tell which pebble I took by the color of the one that's remaining.
Since the remaining pebble is of course black, it must be assumed that she has taken the white pebble since the moneylender did not dare to admit his dishonesty.