Amazing Lesson in Divergent Thinking

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 forget 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.

Amazing Lesson in Divergent Thinking

The First Move

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?

Looking Before Leaping

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 above story is used with the hope that it will make us appreciate the difference between lateral and logical thinking.

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 Moral of the Story

Most Complex problems do have a Solution, sometimes we just have to think about them in a Different way.

If you liked this story, please share it with friends, family and children.

You might spark a thought, inspire and possibly change a life forever!

Thinking Out of Box.

Source: Social Media

Amazing Lesson in Divergent Thinking

You are a visionary! Kindly share this publication

Please scroll down for (i) the writer / author's brief profile, and (ii) readers' comments and / or to comment

Meet the writer / author of...

Amazing Lesson in Divergent Thinking

Anonymous

Anonymous

No idea who originally wrote / authored the article / publication; might have been circulating on social media without the relevant acknowledgement. If you per chance know the original writer / author, kindly indicate that as a comment in the comment section further below. Thanks in advance!

See More Culled Publications

Amazing Lesson in Divergent Thinking

Leave a Reply