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80. THE REWARD OF A GOOD
HORSE
A certain Persian who owned horses of good breed kept a horsekeeper for looking after his horses and the contract was for a specific period. As remuneration, the Persian said, the keeper would receive two horses from the lot. The keeper agreed but was not quite sure which two horses he should finally select. The daughter of the Persian owner and the keeper were very friendly with each other. They had almost become lovers. Once he asked her about his problem and she suggested a sure test, "When the horses are resting comfortably, from the height of a tree, you should drop a leather bag which is full of stones. You should know a good horse who would not show the slightest sign of fright at an unexpected sound." The horsekeeper accordingly put every horse to the test and noted the ones that stood the test well.
At the end of the specified period of the contract, the owner of the horses asked the keeper to take away any two horses as his remuneration. The keeper collected the two horses that were proved by his test to be of the best breed. The owner was most unwilling to part with the two horses the keeper had selected. He offered him the whole lot of other horses instead of the two but the keeper would not budge. The owner said he would need some time to make up his mind.
The owner asked his wife whether the keeper could be married to their daughter so that as their son-in-law he could easily be persuaded to stay on with them. Otherwise with him would go the
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