Hershel Ostropolier lived by his wits and many a time the poor of the community looked to him for help. When a rich man would take advantage of the poor they knew that Hershel would even the score and outwit the scoundrel to the benefit of the poor people.
One year, there was a grape crop failure and the people had very little wine – with the exception of a local wine merchant in the capital city who imported large quantities of grapes from distant countries and made large quantities of wine. He took advantage of the situation and charged inflated prices.
“I’m in no hurry to sell,” he would tell his would-be consumers. “I can afford to wait for my price!”
Because of his greedy attitude the people from the surrounding towns had no wine and this evoked great resentment. They appealed to Hershel Ostropolier to teach the rogue a lesson.
“Very well,” replied Hershel. “I’ll make it so that his own greed will be his downfall.”
Poses As A Wine Expert
Hershel borrowed some expensive clothes and dressed up to look like a prosperous merchant. Accompanied by the young men of the town he went to call upon the greedy wine dealer.
“Good morning! I would like to introduce myself. I am an expert wine-maker from Lemberg and people come to me from far and wide with their problems. I can make good wine even from vinegar and the best out of the worst.”
The wine merchant was overjoyed at this stroke of good luck.
“Are you intending to go into business in our town?” he asked.
“No, I am just passing through,” replied Hershel, “and I wanted to see how the wine business prospered in this city.”
“I would appreciate if you could give me some good pointers on how to improve my wine,” said the wine merchant eagerly.
“With pleasure,” replied Hershel. “Take me down to your cellar and let me examine your stock of wine.”
Bores A Hole In The Barrel
They went down to the cellar and Hershel opened his traveling bag and took out a large drill and bored a hole in one barrel. He stuck his finger in the hole and put it into his mouth to taste.
“Not bad,” he remarked, shaking his head like an expert. The turning to the wine dealer, he said, “Will you be so kind to put your finger in this hole while I taste the wine in the next barrel?”
The wine merchant agreed.
Hershel the moved to the next barrel and repeated his actions. He drilled a hole in that barrel and tasted the wine and again he remarked, “Not bad! Will you also be good enough to place the finger of your other hand in the hole in this barrel to stop it up?”
The wine dealer did as he was told and when both of his hands were occupied, Hershel called in his companions and advised them to take all the wine they needed and to make sure to leave the proper amount of money they would have normally paid before the wine drought.
The wine dealer became livid with rage, realizing that he had been outwitted.
“You scoundrels!” he shouted. “I’ll have you all thrown into prison for this!”
“You notice that he will not withdraw his fingers from the barrel,” replied Hershel. “He is so greedy that he is afraid to lose even one drop of his precious wine. Very well, we’ll let him stay this way until he starves from hunger.”
The merchant became frightened. He was too greedy to allow two barrels of wine to go to waste by removing his fingers, so he began to plead with Hershel to help him.
“Very well,” replied Hershel, “we will help you but only on one condition, that you sign a bill of sale that you sold us the wine at the low price in good faith.”
Fuming and cursing, the greedy wine merchant agreed, and watched in anger while Hershel prepared a bill of sale. Hershel’s companion put his finger in the hole as soon as the wine merchant removed his and thus Hershel made the merchant sign the bill of sale.