Once a merchant purchased a fine camel after striking a hard bargain. On arriving home, he told his servant to remove the camel's saddle, but when doing so, the servant found a small pouch, filled with precious jewels.
The servant was overexcited!!! "Master you bought a camel... but see what came FREE along with it!!!" The astonished merchant looked at the jewels, but he thought, "I bought the camel, not the jewels. I must return them to the camel seller immediately!" The servant was aghast... "Master, no one will ever know." But the merchant headed right back to the market and handed over the velvet pouch back to the camel seller.
The camel seller was very happy, "I had forgotten that I hid these jewels in the saddle for safe keeping. Here, choose one of the jewels for yourself, as a reward." The merchant said "I paid a fair price for the camel and the camel only, so NO thank you, I do not need any reward." As the camel seller kept insisting, the merchant said, sheepishly smiling, "Actually I have already kept two of the most precious jewels for myself."
At this confession the camel seller quickly emptied the pouch to count the jewels and said, "All my jewels are here. What jewels did you keep?"
The merchant responded, "The two most precious, my INTEGRITY, and my SELF-RESPECT."
~ Author Unknown
Integrity is the ability to do the right thing when you can get away with doing the wrong thing..
~ Author Unknown
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