44. A beggar found a leather purse that someone had dropped in a market place. Opening it, hediscovered that it contained 100 pieces of gold. Then he heard a merchant shouted, "A reward! A reward to
the one who found my leather purse!"
Being an honest man, the beggar came forward and handed the purse to the merchant saying, "Here
is your purse. Will you keep your word to give a reward now?"
Reward?" scoffed the merchant greedily counting the amount of gold. "The purse I dropped had 200
pieces of gold in it. You've already stolen more than the reward I'll give you! Go away or I'll tell you to the
police."
"I'm an honest man," said the beggar defiantly. "Let's take this matter to the court!" In the court
, the
judge patiently listened to both sides of the story and said, "I believe you both. Justice is possible! Merchant,
you stated that the purse you lost contained 200 pieces of gold. Well
, that's a considerable cost. But the
purse the beggar found had only 100 pieces of gold. Therefore, it couldn't be the one you lost."
And, with that, the judge gave the purse and all the gold to the beggar.
Who are the main characters in the story above?
A. The beggar and the judge
B. The beggar and the merchant
C. The merchant and the policeman
D. The judge and the people in the marke​