Will and Guy have obtained an inspirational PowerPoint
Presentation explaining the old Chinese story of the farmer's daughter and the black and
white pebbles. The PPT combines
wisdom over a background of spectacular pictures of China.
There is always something inspirational about stories of parables and this is no
exception.
Contents
A Story About Two Pebbles, Set Over Photos of China
Transcript of the Story of Two Pebbles
Many years ago in a small Chinese village, a farmer called Feng had the misfortune of
owing a large sum of money to a village moneylender. The moneylender, who
was old and ugly, fancied the farmer's beautiful daughter Mei. So he proposed a
bargain.
He said he would forgo the Feng's debt if he could marry his daughter.
Both the farmer and his daughter Mei were horrified by the proposal. So the
cunning money-lender suggested that they let providence decide the matter.
He told them that he would put a black pebble and a white pebble into an
empty money bag. Then Mei would have to pick one pebble from the bag.
- If Mei picked the black pebble, she would become his wife and her
father's debt would be forgiven. - If she picked the white pebble she need not marry him and her father's
debt would still be forgiven. - But if she refused to pick a pebble, her father would be thrown into
jail.
They were standing on a pebble strewn path in the farmer's field. As they
talked, the moneylender bent over to pick up two pebbles. As he picked them
up, the sharp-eyed girl noticed that he had picked up two black pebbles and
put them into the bag. He then asked the girl to pick a pebble from the bag.
Now, imagine that you were standing in the field. What would you have
done if you were the girl? If you had to advise her, what would you have
told her?
Careful analysis would produce three possibilities:
- Mei should refuse to take a pebble.
- The girl should show that there were two black pebbles in the bag and
expose the money-lender as a cheat. - Mei should pick a black pebble and sacrifice herself in order to
save her father from his debt and imprisonment.
Take a moment to ponder over the story. The above story is used with the
hope that it will make us appreciate the difference between lateral and
logical thinking. The girl's dilemma cannot be solved with traditional
logical thinking. Think of the consequences if she chooses the above logical
answers.
What would you recommend that Mei should do?
Well, here is what she did ....
The daughter put her hand into the moneybag and drew out a pebble. Without
looking at it, she fumbled and let it fall onto the pebble-strewn path where
it immediately became lost among all the other pebbles.
"Oh, how clumsy of me," Mei said. "But never mind, if you look into the
bag for the one that is left, you will be able to tell which pebble I
picked."
Since the remaining pebble is black, it must be assumed that she had
picked the white one. And since the money-lender dared not admit his
dishonesty, the girl changed what seemed an impossible situation into an
extremely advantageous one.
Moral of the Story:
Most complex problems do have a solution. It is only that we don't
attempt to think. Start your day with this thought provoking story and have
a nice day.
DONT WORK HARD...... "WORK SMART"
You May Also Like our Cracked Pot -
Inspirational Chinese Proverb
Will and Guy have obtained an inspirational PowerPoint
Presentation explaining the old Chinese proverb of the 'Cracked Pot'. The PPT starts slowly, the
wisdom builds up nicely, and leaves you with a warm glow.
There is always something inspirational about proverbs and parables.
The story starts with an elderly Chinese woman who has two large pots, which she carries with a pole balanced across her neck.
See our Cracked Pot PowerPoint Presentation.
How to Create an Inspirational PowerPoint Presentation
Making presentations in PowerPoint is satisfying, moreover, it's easy to get
started.
The PowerPoint program is intuitive to learn and easy to create your own PPT
slides and build them into a slide show. If you have
Microsoft Office you may find that you already have PowerPoint along with Word
and Excel.
One way to begin is simply to open any example presentation. Just
download one of our free PPT files and open it with PowerPoint. As you examine the slides, so it will become obvious how
to add pictures and titles, if you do get stuck, ask the wonderful built-in 'Help'. To
make an inspirational slide show requires these skills;
- Imagination - Think of a motivating idea, then build a themed slide set
- Artistic - An eye for a good picture
- Wordsmith - Choose a catchy title for each slide
- PowerPoint mechanics - Actually, this is the easiest skill of them all, the
program is so intuitive. - Latest techique - Use Skydrive. Import to your public folder,
embed in your web page.
Good luck with creating your inspirational PowerPoint Presentation
Will and Guy
Footnote:
Please send us your insights to the
Two Pebbles wisdom.