recently told by Amma in Amritapuri

[Guest guest]

There was a baker who would go daily to buy sugar from the sugar man, to get

one of the important ingredients for his recipes. Every day he would buy the

same amount: one kilo. One day he noticed that the amount he was getting

seemed to be a little smaller than usual. It irked him a little but brushed

the thought aside, thinking that it must be his imagination or something.

 

But as the days went by he noticed the same trend continuing and he decided

to begin checking the weight of the sugar on his own scales. This way he

could be sure if there was some foul play involved.

 

And sure enough, the next day when he brought his kilo of sugar back to his

bakery and weighed it, he found that there was only 800 grams! He was very

upset and decided to continue for some time and then make a case in the court

against the sugar man.

 

And sure enough, the same trend continued and in fact the weight became less

and less until it finally got down to 500 grams! At this point the baker was

so horrified at the audacity of the sugar man that he went straight to the

police station that morning and laid a formal complaint against him.

 

A few days later both the sugar man and the baker were in court and the baker

was telling the judge his tale of woe very animatedly. He went on and on

until the judge had to cut him short after about 2 hours.

 

The baker sat down in a heated huff and the judge turned to the sugar man and

asked if he had any defense against these charges that had been laid against

him. The sugar man meekly stood before the judge wringing his ragged hat

between his hands nervously. He timidly looked around the room at all the

eyes staring at him and then began to speak in a halting voice.

 

“Your honour,†he croaked, “you see, I am a very poor man without very

much

money to keep my family fed. I basically only live from day to day. I am too

poor to be able to afford to buy proper scales for my humble shop. But I did

make a set of balanced plates that are supported in the middle and give an

accurate level reading.â€

 

“But how do you know how much something weighs?†asked the judge, curiously.

 

“Well, your honour,†he continued, “every morning I go to the bakery and I

buy one kilo of flour, and I use this as the measurement for my scales for

the day!â€