This reminds me of an old folk tale of the trickster and the rich man.<p>A king passing through a town finds a man about to be punished for fraud.  He intercedes and asks what the matter is.  The trickster says in his defence, &quot;I ask people for things, and they give then to me&quot;.  The king is incredulous but poses a challenge:  &quot;You must ask and receive money from the richest man in town.&quot;  The trickster agrees, but being short on assets, requests a loan.  The king obliges, and the trickster arranges (eliding details) to induce the town&#x27;s richest resident to provide him with a wealth of goods.  He returns to the king two days later with evidence in tow.  The king is impressed by this demonstration, at which the trickster notes that he&#x27;d actually met the conditions 48 hours earlier when the king, wealthier than the town&#x27;s richest resident, had offered him a loan.<p>There&#x27;s something to those old stories.<p>(I&#x27;m not positive of the source but believe it&#x27;s included in Idries Shah&#x27;s <i>World Tales</i>.)