When greedy meets cheap

When Agraha and I were shopping in Madrid, we saw a Chinese instrument with two strings. The sound was good, but the price was not good.

They said, “12,030,” or something like that. So I wanted to say, “10,000.”

But Agraha, the great Spanish scholar, told them 9,000.

“Agraha!” I said.

They said, “Impossible!”

I asked Agraha why he didn’t say 10,000. He said, “Since you like bargaining, I said 9,000 so you can go up.” Then he offered 10,000, but the man still said, “Impossible.”

Agraha said, “11,000,” but the man would not come down. They were greedy and they thought that we might again go up.

They were greedy and we were cheap, so we didn’t buy it.

— 22 December 1984