A merchant who owes money to a money lender agrees to setle the debt based upon the choice of two stones (one black, one white) from a money bag. If his daughter chooses the white stone, the debit is cancelled; if she picks the black stone, the moneylender gets the merchant's daughter. However, the moneylender `fixes' the outcome by putting two black stones in the bag.
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If you were the daughter, how would you solve this problem?
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The daughter sees this and when she picks a stone out of the bag, immediately drops it onto the path full of other stones. She then points out that the stone she picked must have been the opposite colour of the one remaining in the bag. Unwilling to be found out as dishonest, the money lender must agree and cancel the debt. The daughter has solved an intractable problem through the use of lateral thinking.
We may not be able to change people's attitude, but we can start by changing their perception, and that comes from changing their thinking patterns. Solution? Lateral Thinking.
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