Two Plus Two Newer Archives  

Go Back   Two Plus Two Newer Archives > Other Topics > Science, Math, and Philosophy
FAQ Community Calendar Today's Posts Search

 
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Prev Previous Post   Next Post Next
  #1  
Old 08-29-2006, 06:48 PM
Siegmund Siegmund is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2005
Posts: 1,850
Default Morals in an old folktale

Just a light philosophical diversion, for anyone who'd like a twisted puzzle that predates Sklansky's birth. It's part of an old German legend from the Middle Ages. Here it is, stripped down to its bare essentials:

A rich man's wife is pronounced dead.

Before she is buried, her husand puts a very expensive ring on her finger, saying "I gave this to her to keep, not just loaned it to her for a few years." His children protest he is giving away their inheritance; the businessmen protest he is throwing away good money; the priest points out she can't "take it with her" and make any use out of it. He insists; the coffin is closed.

The priest thinks about this the rest of the day. First he thinks of all the orphans that ring would feed if it were sold. Then he thinks of the life of luxury he could have if it were sold and kept the proceeds.

At midnight he gives in to the temptation of greed, goes outside into the graveyard, and reopens the coffin. As he reaches for the ring, the woman's body moves and tries to sit up. The priest runs away in a panic, leaving the ring on her finger.

As it happens, she had been in a coma, not dead, and the cold night air revived her when the coffin was opened. She extricates herself from the winding sheet, crawls up out of the grave, goes home, and lives happily many more years.

---

So... 1) is the priest a Good Man(tm), having saved a woman's life, or a Bad Man(tm), having tried to steal a fortune from her?
2) is the husband a Good Man(tm), for his loyalty to his dead wife's memory which brought him a surprising reward, or a Bad Man(tm) for acting so irrationally about his valuables, and doing something which (had it not been undone) would have left him, his children, AND the church orphans all worse off?
Reply With Quote
 


Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -4. The time now is 05:10 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.11
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions Inc.