The fable about the winter pills

fic, fyi.

The long warm days had given to cloudy days where darkness began before brightness took hold of the full sky. The birds were gone, trees naked. The cattle and the pet remained eerily quiet, even the cockerel's crow in the morning was more subdued. The village settled down for a long harsh unceasingly dark winter, hopeless and ready to forgo happiness for months.

A stranger showed up to the village. They had heard of him from the neighboring villages, about his miraculous techniques and magicks but they considered themselves above the tomfoolery of snake-oil salesmen. They were ready to dismiss the peddle of questionable quackery when he did something rather unusual for merchants of dubious products. He offered his products for free for the first two months in limited amounts to everybody, and if they felt a difference, thought what he had provided improved their lives as he had claimed, only then would he start charging money, he said. If you are selling something good, the village elder said, stroking her hair, you will charge us such absurd amount we will go broke and won't be able to imagine our lives without it. The stranger agreed to set his prices to reasonable levels from the start, he set a certain volume as 'deposit', for which there was no way he could charge greater.

He offered them three pills, a red one a greed one and a blue one. Take one in the morning before eating anything, he said, one after lunch just after you've had a heavy meal, and one after dinner right as you go to sleep. He offered the fourth for those with younger kids and cow in the family, eat this white pill before you drink milk, but let it not be before you use the restroom in the morning, he said.

And so it went.

At first the villagers noticed no difference, the pills had no effect upon them. The white ones, they made a difference, those taking it noticed there were no off smells in their houses, there was no farting, the wives didn't have to seek the company of the cold air outside and scold their husbands for farting loudly inside the houses. The burps went down too. This was just a good stomach reliever, they had those in the big markets. It was a useful medication but not as magical as the interloper had claimed.

The weeks turned into months and the villagefolk noticed a difference. Their unmoving hands began working. The lazy sons who the families had given hope upon went out to feed the cattle, cut the hay and split the wood. Daughters became more willing to help around the house. And soon, the older folks realized they felt...better inside their heads, the gloom cast by the season was not stopping them from going out anymore. They went outside and felt comfortable talking to their near and dear ones. Their heads didn't hurt.

Finally the agreed day came upon and the stranger was back from his journeys across other villages. So, he said, have I lied to you, or have you seen the difference. Are you willing to buy these from me? You need these only for the winter months, for in the summer months you already get this from your food, it doesn't work as well. The village council pondered upon it for a moment. Your wares seem to have created a great impact upon our populace. However the price you have quoted for each individual pill a bit too much for us. We as a village are willing to buy ten thousand of these, right away, and send you away instantly, with the agreement to come back next winter, should you give us volume discount, they said. He thought about it for a moment. It has cost me a great amount of money to produce this, but buy buying this in bulk you are saving me great time and energy, name your price and we will talk. They did, and after some calculating he realized that was a good deal for him too. The business deal happened, and everyone was better off.

Moral of the story: Capitalism works really well, but only when checked by civil authorities that care about the well-being of their population.