The Good-Hearted Indian

While I was shopping in London, an Indian really proved to have a good heart. I was buying some saris, and I wanted to pay the owner in American dollars. I was telling him that to simplify things, I would say that two dollars equals a pound. The owner said, "Do you want to make me very rich?"    

I said, "Why?"    

He said, "It is a dollar eighty-five, and you want to give me two dollars. I don't want you to make me rich!"    

Since I was offering, he could have easily agreed. Then he was begging me to drink some juice because it was very hot. I said no, because I had to leave.    

He said, "At least take some handkerchiefs from me. Do you have any handkerchiefs?"    

I said, "No, I don't have any handkerchiefs."    

So he forced me to take three handkerchiefs.    

[Source: "The Good-Hearted Indian" in Sri Chinmoy,  I Love Shopping, Part 1.  First published by Agni Press in 1985. Copied from the web pages of  www.SriChinmoyLibrary.com/sri-chinmoy-love-shopping/part1.]