A POT OF GOLD A STORY ABOUT “SIMBA” AND “MUSO”

1. A POT OF GOLDA STORY ABOUT “SIMBA” AND “MUSO”

2. A POT OF GOLD Once upon a time in a little village called “sun-sun”, lived two friends, Simba the cat and Muso the mouse. They each lived on an apple farm and made money by picking and selling their apples in the village market. Over the years, Simba and Muso had tried to find ways to make more money selling their apples. They had been to the other side of the village and have seen another farmer called Leylan make a lot more money from farming apples. They wondered what Leylan did that was so different from them. His apples were the same as Simba and Muso’s. Yet Leylan made so much money picking and selling apples that he was able to buy himself a pot of gold! One stormy evening, Simba and Muso were on their way back from the market after selling their apples. They were both disappointed in their sales for that day. They barely made any money. Simba looked at Muso and said, “one day Muso, I will also buy myself apot of gold!” Muso replied and said, “me too simba!, me too!” The next morning, when they woke up, they realized that the storm hadblown away most of the ripe apples from the trees. This meant thatthere will be less apples for them to sell in the market for rest of the harvesting season. Both Simba and Muso did not know what to do.Neither did the other neighbouring farmers including Leylan who had also lost most of his apples in the storm. Most of the farmers were so disappointed with the way things turned out that they decided not to even pick the few ripe apples that were left on their trees and sell them in the market. Simba and Muso also wanted to follow suit, but Muso kept thinking that there was something else they could do to make this bad situation better.

3. A POT OF GOLD Then, like a lightning bolt, Muso had a great idea! He suggested to Simba and some of the other farmers that they could all put together the few apples that they manage to pick from their farms, including the apples that may not be of the best quality because of the storm. They could sell the best apples at the normal price, and the other apples they can sell at a discount price. This way, they are bound to make a profitand can share the profitamong themselves. No body seemed to understand what Muso was talking about, so the other farmers decided to leave and not be a part of his plan. Simba however, knew his friend very well and knew that he had a good idea. But Simba was not sure what the words “discount” or “profit” meant. So he asked Muso. Muso’s answer was, “A discount is to sell something at a reduced price.” For example, if a regular good apple cost 10 rupees, they can sell one of the not-so-good apples at a discount for 5 rupees. A profit is the money you make when you subtract the amount of money you get after you sell all your apples from the amount of money it cost you to grow and pick your apples. For example if Muso sold all of his apples in the market and made 150 rupees, but it cost him 100 rupees to grow and pick those apples, then he will make a profit of 50 rupees. To get 50 rupees, Muso has to subtract 150 rupees (the money he made from selling his apples) from100 rupees (the money it cost him to grow and pick his apples)

4. They also increased the price of the not-so good apples from 5 rupees to 7 rupees each with no complaints from the villagers. Because the villagers needed the apples to bake pies for their families and make purees, there were not enough apples for everyone who needed them. So, the villagers were willing to pay just about any price to get the apples from Muso and Simba. By the end of the season, Simba and Muso had made so much money from selling the apples, that they each made a profit of 250 rupees! They were both so excited, and knew that it was only a matter of time before they could each buy themselves a pot of gold! Now that Simba and Muso each had 250 rupees, they wondered what to do with their new money. They both decided they would use 100 rupees each to grow more apples for the upcoming season. This way, they can pick those apples and sell them again once they were ripe for profit. They also decided to use 50 rupees each to spend on the things they needed for their home and families. Now, they each had100 rupees left.“What do wedo with the money?” Simba asked. A POT OF GOLD Now that Simba understood what “discount” and “profit” meant, he was more than happy to join Muso on his plan to sell the few apples that the two of them can put together. Simba and Muso wasted no time. They picked all the apples that they could. Both the good apples and the not-so-good ones. They put the apples in sacks and carried them to the market to sell. They sold the good apples for 10 rupees each and the not-so-good ones for 5 rupees each. For weeks only Simba and Muso sold apples in the village market. Everyone wanted to buy their apples because no one else was selling apples in the market. As more and more people bought Simba and Muso’s apples, they were able to increase the price of the good apples from 10 rupees to 12 rupees each.

5. Before Muso and Simba gave Leylan their 100 rupees each, they made Leylan sign a document called a contract. A contract is a document that shows all of the details of the money that is being lent out. It will show the amount of money being borrowed, the date is has to be paid back, and how much interest has to be paid on the money. In Leylan’s contract, it showed that for the 100 rupees each that the friends give to him, Leylan has to pay Muso and Simba 5% of that money every year and also pay them back the full 100 rupees in 5 years. This means that Leylan has to give Muso and Simba 5 rupees each, every year for 5 years. 5 rupees equals to 5% of the 100 rupees that Leylan borrowed from each of them. In 5 years, Leylan would have paid Muso and Simba 25 rupees each in interest. He would also have to give them back their 100 rupees at the end of the 5 years. At the end of the 5 years, Muso and Simba got back their 100 rupees each from Leylan, and also saved the 5 rupees a year interest that Leylan paid them. In total, the friends each had 25 rupees of interest paid to them by Leylan. By investing their money in Leylan’s farm, Muso and Simba turned their 100 rupees into 125 rupees each after 5 years! If they kept the 100 rupees in their house without investing it, they would only have a 100 rupees each after 5 years. But the 100 rupees will be worth less in the 5 years because the price to buy things will have increased since the time they had the 100 rupees. So Simba and Muso had made a good decision to invest their money in Leylan’s farm. They continued to invest their money into other neighbouring farms. Not too long after, both of them were able buy themselves their very own pot of gold!! Even bigger than the one Leylan had. A POT OF GOLD Muso and Simba decided that since they had enough money to spend on farming and to take care of their families, they willinvesttheir 100 rupees each into Leylan’s apple farm. Toinvest means to put money into something that will most likely make your money grow bigger. So to invest their 100 rupees, Muso and Simba give their money to Leylan on credit. Credit is when you lend a person money and expect them to pay you back the money you gave them with interest. Interestisthe amount of money that Leylan will pay to the two friends for using their money, or the amount they will charge Leylan for the borrowing their money.It is a percentage of the money borrowed and must be paid to Muso and Simba within a certain time, normally 1 year. The friends know that Leylan has always made a profit from selling his apples. Even though he did not make a profit this season because of the storm, they believed that Leylan will be able to make a profit someday and pay them back their 100 rupees plus Interest.

6. A POT OF GOLD Muso and Simba had finally got what they had always dreamed of, their very own Pot of Gold!. As for Leylan, he also did not do too bad. He made 250 rupees selling his apples after the 5 years. Not bad... But because he borrowed 100 rupees each from Muso and Simba, and had to pay them interest of 25 rupees each , he did not make any profit. Leylan did not loose any money either, he broke-even. To break even means that the amount of money that Leylan made from selling his apples is equal to the amount of money it cost him to grow and pick his apples. Therefore, he made neither a profit nor a loss. Muso and Simba went on to teach most of the other farmers in Sun-Sun about managing their money better. The village of Sun-Sun went on to be one of the wealthiest little villages by far and wide!The End