A young man named Dave bought a horse from a farmer for $250.
The farmer agreed to deliver the horse the next day.
The following day, the farmer arrived at Dave’s house and said,
“Sorry, son, but I’ve got some bad news. The horse died.”
Dave replied,
“Well, then just give me my money back.”
The farmer shook his head.
“I can’t. I already spent it.”
Dave thought for a moment and said,
“Alright then, just bring me the dead horse.”
The farmer looked confused.
“What are you going to do with it?”
“I’m going to raffle it off,” Dave replied.
The farmer laughed.
“You can’t raffle off a dead horse!”
“Sure I can,” said Dave. “I just won’t tell anyone it’s dead.”
A month later, the farmer ran into Dave and asked,
“So, what happened with that dead horse?”
Dave smiled.
“I raffled it off. I sold 500 tickets for five dollars each and made a profit of $2,495.”
The farmer stared at him.
“Didn’t anyone complain?”
Dave shrugged.
“Just the guy who won. So I gave him his five dollars back.”