There was once a person who was very stingy.
One day he tried to cross a river by himself,
but he slipped because the current was
extremely strong. And then the current swept
him away, down the middle of the river. So
he shouted, "Can anyone help me? I'll give
you money!" There was a person on a boat
nearby and he said, "OK. For fifty dollars I'll
help you." But the man in the river replied, "
Fifty dollars! That's too expensive. I'll give
you twenty." So the person on the boat said,
"No, no, that's too cheap." By now the man
in the river was trying very hard to breathe
and was even swallowing some of the river
water. So he said, "OK, OK, thirty dollars!"
But the person on the boat said, "No, no.
Forty dollars is my last price." And the man
in the water said,
"I - I - I'd rather die!"