05/05/2023
Once upon a time in an old Japanese village, there was a smart man who owned a well, but he didn't use it, so he decided to sell it to a nearby farmer. One day, when he passed by and saw the farmer pumping water from the well for cooking, watering flowers, raising livestock, etc., the smart man immediately stopped him and did not allow him to pump water from the well.
"I only sold you the well, I didn't sell you the water. Therefore, you cannot take water from this well," the smart man spoke up.
The farmer was very sad and didn't know what to do. He had bought the well, but he hadn't paid for the water from the well. Now the well was full of water, but he couldn't use it, while his whole family, flowers, and livestock all needed clean water from this well.
After thinking for a long time about how to resolve the issue with the smart man, the farmer decided to bring it up to the district court, hoping to get justice. At the court, the farmer recounted the story from beginning to end, hiding nothing, in order to get justice for his family.
The district judge called the smart man up and asked, "Why don't you let him use the water in the well? Didn't you sell the well?"
"Well, your honor, I only sold the well to this farmer, I didn't sell him the water in it. Therefore, he has no right to take water from my property. Now, if he wants to take water, he has to pay more to buy the water," the smart man replied, firmly believing in his argument.
The district judge looked at the smart man, smiled slightly, and replied, "Oh, you make a good point. However, when you sold the well to this farmer, the well became his property, and the water in the well is still your property. So, you have no right to store water in the farmer's well anymore."
"Now there are only two options: One is that you have to pay the farmer to rent the well for water storage. Two is that you have to remove all the water from the well immediately," the judge looked up at the smart man and asserted fir
