The Story of the Merchant of Seri

There was once a merchant from Seri who sold brass and tin pots and pans. He traveled from town to town with another man who sold the same things. This second man was greedy. He tried to get everything he could for nothing and to pay as little as possible for whatever he bought.

Whenever they came to a town, the two merchants divided up the streets between them. Each one walked up and down his own streets calling, “Tinware for sale! Brass for sale!” and people came to their doorsteps to buy or trade.

In one of those towns, a poor grandmother shared a little house with her granddaughter. Long ago the family had been wealthy, and the only thing left from those days was a bowl made of gold. The old woman had no idea what it was made of. She kept it simply because her husband had eaten from it years before, and it stood forgotten on a shelf with the everyday pots.

The greedy merchant came along their street with his cry of “Water jars! Pans for sale!”

“Oh, Grandmother,” begged the girl, “won’t you get me something?”

“Child, we haven’t a penny to spend,” said the old woman, “and nothing to swap.”

“Grandmother, let’s see what the merchant will give us for the old bowl. We never use it. Perhaps he’ll trade it for something nice.”

So the old woman called the merchant, showed him the bowl and said, “Sir, will you take this and give my granddaughter something for it?”

The greedy man turned the bowl over, scraped it with the point of a needle, and saw at once that it was gold. Hoping to get it for nothing, he sneered, “This? It isn’t worth half a penny!” And he tossed it down in the dirt and went on his way.

After a while the other merchant came down the same street, for they had agreed that either of them could go along any street the other had finished with. “Jars and tinware! Fine brass!” he called.

When the girl heard him, she pleaded with her grandmother to offer him the bowl.

“Darling,” the old woman said, “the last trader flung it in the dust and left. It’s all we have to offer.”

“That one was grumpy, Grandmother. This one has a kind face. Please ask. He might give us a small tin plate.”

“Very well, fetch him in and let him see it.”

The moment the merchant held the bowl, he knew it was gold. “Everything I have with me is not worth as much as this bowl,” he said. “It is made of gold. I don’t have enough to pay for it.”

“Sir,” the grandmother said, “just a little while ago another trader threw it down and called it worthless. If you believe it has some value, please take it, and let my granddaughter choose a dish she likes.”

But the honest merchant would not do that. He handed over every coin in his purse and every pot and pan he carried. “All I ask is to keep eight pennies,” he said. With those eight pennies he hurried to the river and paid a boatman to take him over to the other side.

Before long the greedy merchant came strolling back. “Let me have that old bowl,” he said, “and I’ll trade you something for it.”

“Certainly not,” said the grandmother. “You called it worthless. Another trader has bought it for a great deal and carried it off.”

The greedy merchant was furious. “That man has cost me a small fortune!” he shouted. “That bowl was gold!”

He ran down to the river and saw the other merchant in the boat, far out on the water. “Boatman! Turn back!” he bellowed.

“Keep rowing!” said the honest merchant. And so he reached the city across the water, where the golden bowl brought him enough to live comfortably for some time.

Where this story comes from

“The Merchant of Seri” is the third tale in Ellen C. Babbitt’s Jataka Tales (1912), a book of Buddhist birth stories retold for young children. In Babbitt’s version the greedy trader tests the bowl by scratching it with a needle, and the honest one keeps only eight pennies for the ferry.

Babbitt tells the tale in plain, short sentences and lets the ending speak for itself, without a moral at the close.

Read the original: Jataka Tales (Project Gutenberg)

Best for ages 3–5 — an honest trader, a greedy one and a golden bowl hiding on a kitchen shelf.

A closer reading

Both traders recognize the same material, so knowledge alone does not distinguish them. The difference is what they tell an owner who knows less. The first uses that imbalance to lower her expectations; the second reveals the value even though secrecy would benefit him.

The honest merchant also refuses the grandmother’s offer to accept a small trinket after he has explained the bowl. He gives nearly everything he carries while retaining the fare needed to complete the journey. The story combines fairness with practical provision; it is about an exchange, not simply a gift that magically guarantees a greater reward.

Try this with the story

At the two inspections, write what the merchant knows, what the grandmother knows and what the merchant says. Compare how each conversation changes the grandmother’s ability to choose.

Questions to ask

• What do both merchants know that the grandmother does not?
• Why is telling her the bowl is gold important before agreeing on a trade?
• Why does the honest merchant keep eight pennies?

You may also like

• The Measure of Rice — another Jataka about honest and dishonest prices
• The Wise and Foolish Merchants — two traders who make very different choices
• The Story of the Sandy Road — a merchant who refuses to give up