March 22, 2002
Another story about my
Another story about my niece, who is not even three yet. From my sister Tobi:
HORSETRADING WITH MIR:
Mir: I want to buy a horse. You be a farmer who sells horses. White horses.
Me: Okay, I'm a farmer who sells white horses. I have a white horse named Cobweb.
Mir: How much is it?
Me: $300
Mir: (looks at me in disbelief) $300! That's a lot! (Thinks) Do you have any other white horses?
Me: I have a $5 horse and a $10 horse.
Mir: (skeptically) You don't have any $6 horses?
Me: Nope, I have a $5 horse, a $10 horse, and a $300 horse. Which one do you want?
Mir: (confidently) I want the $300 horse!
Me: (after a long pause) Well, do you HAVE $300?
Mir: No, I have a $300 cat and a $300 donkey. You can have the $300 cat.
(She leads her horse away, looking back only to inquire how much it weighs. I say it weighs a ton. "Wow, a ton!" She looks pleased. "That's a lot!")
BUYER'S REMORSE:
(Mir returns some minutes later with her horse).
Mir: I'm selling my horse to you.
Me: Why, don't you like it?
Mir: (shakes her head ruefully and laughs) I just want my cat back!
I guess that somewhere in there, after Tobi said the horse cost $300, Mir actually asked her, "How's your work going, selling horses?" Probably implying Tobi wasn't much of a horse seller, some kind of bargaining strategy.
And she's not even three. I wonder what will happen first: she turns
three, she discovers compound interest, she starts a business trading
imaginary $300 korean seagulls.
Posted by Curt at March 22, 2002 12:16 AM