Once upon a time, in a village in India, a man announced to the villagers that he would pay them $20 for each monkey they brought him.
The villagers, seeing that their surroundings were full of monkeys, went into the forest and started catching them. The man bought thousands of monkeys from them for $20 each, but as the number of monkeys decreased, the villagers gave up their efforts. As a result, the man this time offered to pay them $40 for each monkey. Under these conditions, the villagers resumed their activities. After a while, the stock became smaller and smaller, until finally the villagers gave up and went to their fields for farming.
This time, the offer went up to $45 and… as a result, the number of monkeys decreased so much that it was hard to find one to catch. This time, the merchant claimed that he would pay $60 for each monkey, but as he had to go to the city for business, he entrusted the work to his apprentice to buy the monkeys on his behalf.
In the merchant’s absence, the apprentice told the villagers that there were so many monkeys in cages! I will sell them to you for $50 so that you can sell them to him for $60 when the merchant returns.
The villagers, tempted, pooled their money and bought all the monkeys. Of course, after that, no one ever saw the merchant or his apprentice again. And all that was left were the villagers and a world of monkeys.
