Once there was a boy. Not the brightest of boys, to be sure. One day when he was returning from the fields, he met a man leading a mare. The boy suddenly had a great desire to own the mare. So he asked the owner, “What will you ask for this mare? I would like to have her.”
The man said, “A hundred rupees and the mare is yours.”
“I do not have one hundred rupees,” said the boy, “but I do possess fifty rupees.”
“Well then, you will just have to walk home, my lad,” said the owner. “It is hundred, or nothing.”
“Listen,” pleaded the boy, “let us make a deal. I will give you fifty rupees cash and instead of the remaining fifty I will give you back your mare. How is that?”
The man was no fool. He quickly agreed and then quietly walked away with his mare and the fifty rupees as well.
The silly lad too walked on, proud and happy at the deal. He trotted along, holding the imaginary reins and urging his mare onwards. He reached home and called his father. “Father, look what I bought today. A mare.”
“Where is it, son?” asked the father.
The boy explained, “You see, it was like this. The mare cost a hundred rupees. I had only fifty. So I paid fifty to the owner and returned to him the mare instead of the remaining fifty. I did not want to come home with any debts on my head.”
“Bravo, son!” said the father. “Hats off to your bargaining ability!”