One day a man said to his wife: “My wife, we are getting very poor and I must go into business to earn some money.”
“That is a good idea,” replied his wife. “How much capital have you?”
“I have twenty-five centavos,”17 answered the man; “and I am going to buy rice and carry it to the mines, for I have heard that it brings a good price there.”
So he took his twenty-five centavos and bought a half-cavan of rice which he carried on his shoulder to the mine. Arriving there he told the people that he had rice for sale, and they asked eagerly how much he wanted for it.
“Why, have you forgotten the regular price of rice?” asked the man. “It is twenty-five centavos.”
They at once bought the rice, and the man was very glad because he would not have to carry it any longer. He put the money in his belt and asked if they would like to buy any more.
“Yes,” said they, “we will buy as many cavans as you will bring.”
When the man reached home his wife asked if he had been successful. [207]
“Oh, my wife,” he answered, “it is a very good business. I could not take the rice off my shoulder before the people came to buy it.”
“Well, that is good,” said the wife; “we shall become very rich.”
The next morning the man bought a half-cavan of rice the same as before and carried it to the mine and when they asked how much it would be, he said:
“It is the same as before—twenty-five centavos.” He received the money and went home.
“How is the business today?” asked his wife.
“Oh, it is the same as before,” he said. “I could not take the rice off my shoulder before they came for it.”
And so he went on with his business for a year, each day buying a half-cavan of rice and selling it for the price he had paid for it. Then one day his wife said that they would balance accounts, and she spread a mat on the floor and sat down on one side of it, telling her husband to sit on the opposite side. When she asked him for the money he had made during the year, he asked:
“What money?”
“Why, give me the money you have received,” answered his wi............