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Monday, May 12, 2003
Flavier: The parable of the price bargaining
By Juan Flavier
THE farmer was totally devoted to farm work. Long before the sun rose, he was already on his way to his field two kilometers away. He brought his noonday meal wrapped in banana leaves. After lunch, he took a short nap more to allow the searing sun to mellow a little. Then, he would resume his work up until sunset.
His routine was unbroken until a friend hinted about a man who often visited his wife every mid-afternoon. So, unannounced and for the first time in several decades, the farmer suddenly appeared in their home earlier than usual.
The mysterious man hid inside the corner storage cabinet where clothes and beddings were kept during the day. As he crouched in the darkness, the youngest son of the farmer said, "It is too cramped inside here. This is good for only one but not both of us.
"Keep quiet," whispered the intruder. "I will give you one peso. Just keep still. Better yet, you go out and leave me here."
"No, I was here first. You have to give me more," replied the little boy.
"Okay, I will give you five pesos," offered the man. "That is my last price."
"Then I will scream," threatened the boy. He attempted to stand up but the man pressed him down.
"Okay, you win. Here is twenty pesos. Absolutely my last offer. That is all the money I have with me."
"I will take it," said the boy. So he sat quietly with the man in the darkness of the cabinet until it was safe to go out.
The next Sunday, the farmer's wife and the son went to town to market some produce. In the main square, the boy fell in love with a toy costing thirty pesos.
"Mother, please add ten pesos. I have twenty pesos of my own money," explained the boy.
"First, you have to tell me where you got your money," said the mother.
But no matter what the mother did, the boy refused to reveal the source of his twenty pesos. In anger, the mother dragged the boy to church.
"Now you get into the confessional and tell the priest where you stole the money. Then, implore for forgiveness," the mother ordered.
The boy entered the confessional for the first time. Before making the confession, he blurted. "It is dark in here."
The priest replied, "You're not going to start haggling for a suitable price again, are you?"
(May 12, 2003 issue)
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