Once there lived a poor farmer boy how would come weekly to the market place to sell his daily produce. One day he found a lather purse that someone had dropped in the marketplace. Opening it, he discovered that it contained 100 pieces of gold. This was a big amount for anybody. The boy said to himself, “I am very sad for the person who lost this money. How can I find him and return it back.”
Only then he heard a merchant shout, “A reward! A reward to the one who finds my leather purse!”
Being an honest man, the boy came forward and handed the purse to the merchant saying, “Here is your purse. May I have the reward now?”
“Reward?” scoffed the merchant, greedily counting his gold. “Why the purse I dropped had 200 pieces of gold in it. You’ve already stolen more than the reward! Go away or I’ll tell the police.”
“I’m an honest man,” said the boy defiantly. “Let us take this matter to the court.”
In court the judge patiently listened to both sides of the story and said, “I believe you both. Justice is possible! Merchant, you stated that the purse you lost contained 200 pieces of gold. Well, that’s a considerable cost. But, the purse this boy found had only 100 pieces of gold. Therefore, it couldn’t be the one you lost.”
And, with that, the judge gave the purse and all the gold to the boy.
