All for a Paisa

Illustrated By: Tristan Liu

IN A VALLEY IN INDIA THERE ONCE LIVED a very wealthy merchant who was not at all happy with his only son.  The boy showed no signs of intelligence or creativity, much less any willingness to work. His mother always thought the best of him however, and was constantly making excuses for him.

In those days, it was the father's role to seek a marriage match for his children. When his son reached the age to marry, the merchant was too much ashamed of the lazy boy to seek a match, and in his own mind had fully decided never to have him married. But the mother could not imagine for one moment a future for her son without a wife and children, and grandchildren for her. 

So she urged excuses for her son. She claimed to have now and again noticed extraordinary qualities of wisdom and intelligence in him. Her speaking in this way only annoyed the merchant.

So she urged excuses for her son.

"Look here!" the merchant said to his wife one day when she was praising their son. "I have heard this many times before, but you have never once proved it. I do not believe there is a particle of truth in anything that you say. Mothers are blind. However, to satisfy you, I will give the fool another chance."

"What do you have in mind?" said the wife, wary.

"Send for the boy and give him this one small coin, this paisa. Tell him to go to the bazaar and with the one coin to buy a single item.  That item must provide something to eat, something to drink, something for the cow to chew on, and something to plant in the garden."

"Send for they boy and give him this one small coin, this paisa."

"How can one item do all that?" said the wife.  "You're just making up an impossible task for him."

"You say our son can think.  Let him prove it!" said the father.

And so the mother described the task to the boy and gave him the one paisa.

"There's no way one paisa can buy something that does all that," he said, staring at the coin.  Yet such was the task and there was nothing to be done about it.  So he turned and left.

"There's no way one paisa can buy something that does all that," he said, staring at the coin.

The youth was riding his pony along the river to the bazaar, and his heart sunk.  "What can be bought with just one paisa to eat, and drink, and do all the other things  This is just another task I won't be able to do.  Why do I even try?"  He got off the pony, took out his sitar and plucked a sad song.

At that moment the daughter of an ironsmith rode up. Hearing the lovely but sad melody and seeing the lad's unhappy expression, she asked him what was the matter. He told her everything his mother had ordered him to do.

"Hmm," said the young woman.  "You know, there may be a solution. With one paisa you can buy a watermelon.  A watermelon can give something to eat, something to drink, something for the cow to chew on, and something to plant in the garden."

"You're right - what a good idea!" cried the youth.  He thanked her, hopped back on his pony, and headed to the bazaar. 

When the young man presented his parents with the watermelon, they were both very impressed.

"How did you think of such a clever solution?" said the father, who was relieved as he didn't have in mind an answer to the riddle when he had made it up in the first place. 

"Actually father, it was the daughter of an ironsmith who gave me the idea," said he. 

"You're not taking the credit for yourself," nodded the father with approval.  "I may have been wrong about you, son." 

"Actually father, it was the daughter of an ironsmith who gave me the idea," said he.

"Let us invite the ironworker and his family to the house for dinner," said the merchant's wife, not one to let an opportunity pass.  "Son, what would you think about that?"  The boy's shy grin was all the answer she needed.

Both sets of parents were pleased to see love bloom between the two young people. In time the daughter of the ironsmith married the merchant's son, and the lad became a hard-working young husband, and they all lived happily ever after.

• Why would the father send the boy to the bazaar with such a difficult task
• Are there any other possible solutions to the riddle?