Once upon a time in a village a man appeared who announced to the villagers that he would buy monkeys for 1000 rupees. The villagers knew that the jungle held countless monkeys, easily caught. The man bought 2000 monkeys.
As the supply diminished, they become difficult to catch, and villagers returned to their farms. The man announced that he would pay 2000 rupees for a monkey. The villagers renewed their efforts and caught 1,000 more monkeys.
The supply quickly diminished, but before they returned to their farms the man increased his offer to 4000 rupees each. Monkeys became so rare that it was difficult to even see a monkey let alone catch it. But they caught 500.
The man now announced that he would buy monkeys at 10000 Rupees! However, since he had to go to the city on some business his assistant would now buy for the man. The man departed.
Then the assistant told the villagers, “Look at all these monkeys the man has in that big cage. I will sell them to you at 5000 Rupees each. When the man comes back you can sell the monkey’s back to him for 10000 Rupees” The villagers queued up with all their saving to buy the monkeys. The assistant took their money. They never saw either the man or his assistant again.
