Once, a man sold his well to a farmer. When the farmer was going to draw water from that well, the man said, “I have sold you just the well, not the water. You will have to pay me extra for the water.” The farmer felt cheated and took the matter to the king. The king called the other man in the court. When the man presented himself before the court, the man said, “I have sold just the well to the farmer, not the water.” The clever king said to him, “Since you have sold the well to this farmer, and you claim that the water is yours, then you have no right to keep your water in the farmer’s well. Either you pay rent to the farmer to keep your water in his well, or you take that out of his well immediately.” The man understood that he had been outwitted.
The Well and the Water
