The Villagers and the Monkeys

Once upon a time, a man appeared in a village and announced to the villagers that he would buy monkeys for Rs.10/-. Since there were so many monkeys around, the villagers started catching them. The man bought hundreds of monkeys at Rs.10/- each, and kept them in a huge cage for all to see. As supply started to diminish, it became a bit difficult to get new monkeys and the villagers stopped their efforts.  The man now announced that he would buy monkeys at Rs.20/- per monkey. The villagers now renewed their efforts and started catching monkeys again. Soon, the supply diminished even further and people started going back to their farms. The offer rate now increased to Rs.25/- and the supply of monkeys reduced even further. The man now announced that he would buy monkeys at Rs.50/- ! However, he had to go to the city on some business, and would return after a couple of days. Till then, his assistant would look after the monkeys kept in that cage. When the man was gone, the assistant told the villagers – “Look at all these monkeys in the cage that the man has collected. I will sell them to you at Rs.35/- each and when the man returns from the city, you can sell it to him for Rs.50/-.” The villagers liked the idea, and squeezed up all their savings and bought the monkeys back. Then, then the assistant too left with all the money and never returned.  

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