One poor man drowned in the river while swimming. His body, a little further downstream, was accidentally caught by a rich man living nearby. A relative of the poor man, having learned about this, came to the rich man with a request to give him the body. The rich man, however, demanded a ransom. Not having the required amount, the poor man offered his price for the body of a relative, much lower than the required one. The rich man flatly refused to give up the drowned man for such a small amount, in his opinion. Without agreeing on anything, they parted. Not knowing what to do, the rich man went for advice to a local sage and outlined the situation to him.
“Be calm,” answered the sage, “he won’t buy it anywhere else.”
After some time, a poor man came to the sage and complained about the actions of the rich man.
“Be calm,” answered the sage, “he won’t sell it to anyone else.”
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru