Long ago in a place called Seri, two salesmen sold pots, pans and handmade trinkets. Theydecided to divide the town between them. They also agreed that it was alright for the otherto hawk his waresafter the first had gone through his designated area.
One day, one of them was coming down a street when a poor little girl saw him and askedher grandmother to buy her a bracelet. “We are too poor. We can’t afford it,”replied theold grandmother. “Since we don’t have any money, we can exchange one with our blacksooty old plate,
”suggested the little girl. The old woman agreed to give it a try, and so sheinvited the dealer in.Seeing that they were poor humble people who probably had no money, the salesman didnot want to waste his time with them. Though the old woman pleaded with him,
he saidhe had no bracelet that she could afford to buy. Then she asked: “We have an old platethat is useless to us, can we barter it for a bracelet?” The man took the plate and examinedit. He accidentally scratched the bottom of the plate, and to his surprise, discovered goldgleaming underneath the black soot.
The black sooty old plate was actually a golden plate!But he didn’t tell the old woman of his discovery. Instead, he decided to deceive herso he
could get the plate for virtually nothing. “This is not worth even one bracelet. There is no value in this. I don’t want it!” he lied, and left thinking he would return later when they would accept something of a lesser value for the plate.
