A poor potter with his donkey is coming back home from the market. He has sold all the pots, but on the way, he found a great diamond, uncut, unpolished. He knows nothing about diamonds; he just thought it would be good for children to play with. ”It looks beautiful, shiny. Or it may look good if I hang it round the neck of the donkey.”
So he managed to hang it around the neck of the donkey. A jeweler was passing by on his beautiful horse. He suddenly stopped. He could not believe… he had never seen such a big diamond. And around a donkey’s neck! He asked the poor man, ”What you will take for that stone?”
The poor man thought very hard. Finally, he said, ”One rupee will do, but I was thinking my children
would like it or my donkey might like it.”The jeweler said, ”One rupee for a stone? Are you mad!” He became greedy: ”This man knows nothing. For one rupee he is selling a diamond worth one million rupees! He can be negotiated.” So he said, ”No, I will give only four paise,” and he went on slowly, on his horse.
But by chance, another jeweler came behind him, and he was a far richer jeweler, on his chariot. He also stopped, and he asked, ”How much is the price of that diamond?”
The man said, ”It used to be one rupee, but now it is two rupees. There seem to be too many buyers of the product; the price has gone high!” The jeweler gave him two rupees, took the diamond and went away.
And the man on the horse came back because he thought, ”It is foolish negotiating about one rupee. Just give him one rupee and take the diamond.”
He told him, ”Don’t be worried, I will give you one rupee.”
The potter said, ”But the diamond is sold.”
The jeweler said, ”DIAMOND?”
The man said, ”I am a poor man but I can understand – who is interested in a stone? And I have got double the price: two rupees cash.”
The jeweler said, ”You are mad. I could have given you ten rupees!”
The man said, ”But you are late. Never be too greedy. I was giving it to you for one rupee. And when the other man on the chariot stopped I knew that it must be worth thousands of rupees, but what am I to do with thousands of rupees? Two rupees is enough. I am a poor potter: two rupees will give a great boost to my business. I don’t want anything more.”
The jeweler was very angry. He said, ”You are stupid. You are an idiot! You sold a diamond worth one million rupees for two rupees!”
The poor potter said, ”Don’t be angry. In fact, you are an idiot because you knew it is a diamond and you would not purchase it for one rupee. I am a poor man. I had no idea what it is; I have never seen a diamond. I asked you the highest price I could calculate; more than one rupee I have never seen.
So who do you think is an idiot? Now go home and cry over the spilled milk as much as you want. As far as I am concerned, two rupees is enough – diamond or no diamond. For me, two rupees are too much.”
