The Purse of Gold

A beggar found a leather purse that someone had dropped in a market. Opening it, he discovered that it contained 100 pieces of gold. Then he heard a merchant shouted, "A reward! A reward to the one who find my leather purse!"

 Being an honest man, the beggar came forward and handed the purse to the merchant saying, "Here is your purse. Will you keep your word to give a reward now?"

Reward?" scoffed the merchant greedily counting the amount of gold. "The purse I dropped had 200 pieces of gold in it. You've already stolen more than the reward I'll give to you! Go away or I'll tell you to the police."

"I'm an honest man," said the beggar defiantly. "Let's take this matter to the court!" In the court, the judge patiently listened to both sides of the story and said, "I believe you both. Justice is possible! Merchant, you stated that the purse you lost contained 200 pieces of gold. Well, that's a considerable cost. But the purse the beggar found had only 100 pieces of gold. Therefore, it couldn't be the one you lost.”

(text for grade 8)