Who deserves the money?

There were two villagers who were simplicity and sincerity incarnate. Their names were Jadu and Madhu. Now, Jadu bought a plot of land from Madhu and started ploughing the land most diligently. He was very happy. One day, in a corner of the field, he discovered a small earthen container, and inside it there were gold coins. He went to Madhu and said, “I bought the land from you, but I was not supposed to get these gold coins. You take them. The land is mine, but it is not right for me to keep this money.”

Madhu said, “No, the land belongs to you, so whatever is on it is all yours.”

Between these two friends, neither of them wanted to claim the money. They even went to the length of quarrelling and fighting. Jadu insisted, “I want to be sincere. I discovered the money on your land. It is you who sold the land to me, so you deserve it.”

Madhu replied, “You paid me for the land. How can I deserve any more money? No, it is yours.”

Back and forth they went.

“I will not take it.”

“No, you have to take it! It is your money.”

“No, it is not. It is yours. It is your property.”

A wonderful fight ensued between these two good souls. Finally, they went to the village chief and asked him to decide what they should do. The village chief was so pleased to find that in his village there could be people like this. He was so proud of them. He said to them both, “Do not quarrel, do not fight! You two are so good! I have never seen people like you. I can easily solve your problem.”

Then he asked Jadu, “Do you have children?”

Jadu said, “Yes, I have a son.”

The village chief asked Madhu, “Do you have children?”

Madhu replied, “Yes, I have a daughter.”

Then the village chief said, “I have solved the problem. Now, it is my command that your son and his daughter must get married. I can easily see that they will both derive great joy from this union.”

The two villagers stopped fighting immediately. They were so happy that their son and daughter would marry each other.

The marriage ceremony took place in due course. At the wedding, the village chief said, “This money that was found in the field shall be given to the newlyweds.” So both the parties were very, very happy. The village chief had solved their problem.