Pig and Bear decided to go into business.
“We’ll make lots of money!” they thought.
Pig baked a bushel of potatoes, and Bear fried a heap of doughnuts.
They went to the marketplace early in the morning to get the best spots.
Nobody was around yet. The morning was clear and chilly.
Bear had a nickel in his coat. After a while he went over to Pig’s stand to warm up a little.
“How much for a potato?” he growled.
“A nickel for you.”
Bear was about to say that he’d just wanted to ask, but then he changed his mind.
He fished the nickel in his fur, took the biggest steaming potato in his paws and crossed the road back to his stand.
The business is moving, rejoiced the Pig. But since there were no more customers for a while and he hadn’t eaten since they started at dawn, he crossed over to Bear’s stand and
bought himself a black raspberry doughnut for a nickel.
Bear was happy to have his first customer. He felt he should eat something before they started to flock. He went over to buy another baked potato.
The move brought him luck. He had finished when Pig was over for another doughnut.
The business slacked off again until Bear bought a potato. Soon Pig was over again and Bear went right back to his stand with him spend the earned nickel.
Pig returned for a doughnut and soon they were going back and forth until they sold everything.
They counted the money, but:
“How strange, I only have a nickel,” Bear said.
“And I have nothing at all”, said Pig.
They couldn’t believe it.
“We have sold all our merchandise,” they kept saying , “but we have no money!”
But in vain they counted and recounted: they had only a nickel between them after the whole day of busy trading.
