A shopkeeper once had two helpers, John and David, who were brothers. At first they both received the same wage for the work they did, and so things went for a while.
Then one day, John noticed that his brother was being paid more. So he went up to the shopkeeper and said, “Mr. Shopkeeper, you’re paying my brother more than me and I want to know why.” “I’ll explain why in a minute, first of all go over to the market and see if there are any new potatoes,” replied the shopkeeper.
So John went over to the market and reported back to the shopkeeper, “Yes, there are new potatoes on the market,” he said. “Good,” replied the shopkeeper. “Now go and ask what they cost per kilo.”
John went back to the market, returned to the shop and said, “The farmer is asking 50p a kilo.” “Good,” replied the shopkeeper. “Now go and find out how many kilos he can supply me with today.”
So John went to the market again, for the third time that morning and came back with the following answer, “The farmer says he can supply you with five kilos today.”
“Very well, now sit here for a minute,” said the shopkeeper. He then told David to go to the market to see if there were any new potatoes. David came back quickly and said, “There are plenty of new potatoes on the market today. They cost 50p per kilo and you can have five kilos today.”
Then the shopkeeper turned to John and asked, “Do you understand now why I pay your brother more?”
