One morning Mehta Kalu Ji sat his son down and put a hand on his head. It is time you learned to earn, he said.
He counted out some money, twenty coins, and pressed them into the young man's hand. Walk to the next town, he said. Find something cheap there, something good. Buy it, bring it home, sell it here for a little more. Bring me back a fine bargain. Make sure it is the best.
I have never done this before, said Guru Nanak Dev Ji.
Take Bhai Bala Ji with you, said his father.
So the two of them set out and walked a long way, and at last the town of Chuharkana came in sight, low and brown in the distance.
But before the town there was a garden, up on a little rise, with big trees in it.
And under the trees there were holy men.
They had almost no clothes, and a small fire to keep the cold off. Some sat very still, and some stood on one leg, and one was clearly the eldest, so Guru Nanak Dev Ji went and sat down beside him.
It is cold, he said, and you have nothing to wear. And I cannot see any food. Is that on purpose, or is it because there is none.
We had houses once, said the old man. We left them. We are looking for God, and we have learned to want nothing.
How long is it since you ate, asked Guru Nanak Dev Ji.
The old man did not want to answer. Then he said: today is the seventh day.
Seven days. And the town lay just over the rise, full of grain and butter and bread, and these men had not gone to ask for so much as a crust.
Then he took out the twenty coins, all of them, and set them down on the ground.
Take this, he said. Get food, all of you.
The old man would not touch it. You are young, he said. Your father gave you this money for something. He will be angry with you.
And Guru Nanak Dev Ji smiled, and said a thing people have remembered ever since.
Let the body learn to put up with hardship, he said, and let the heart learn to stay soft. Whatever is going to happen will happen. But a moment when you can do good does not come along often. Money is a servant. It is for using.
Then get us the food yourself, said the old man.
So he walked into Chuharkana and bought rice and wheat and butter, and carried it all back up to the garden. And the holy men cooked, and ate, and were warm.
Then he turned for home, and the whole way there his heart got heavier, because he knew what was waiting.
He did not go in. When Talwandi came in sight he sat down on the steps of a dry pond, outside the town, and stayed there all night.
In the morning his father came out to find him, and he was very angry indeed. Twenty coins gone, nothing to show for it, and a son who had hidden all night rather than come home. His anger fell hard on the young man, in front of everybody, and not one person in that crowd stepped forward to stop it.
Then somebody did.
Bebe Nanaki Ji, his sister, had run from the house. She went straight through the crowd and put her arms around her father and drew him away, saying over and over, no, not my brother, he has done nothing wrong. And her father's anger went out of him like a fire going out. Then she held her brother, and walked him home, crying all the way.
That afternoon Rai Bular Ji heard what had happened and sent for them both.
He sat the young man beside him and would not let him sit lower. He sent for twenty coins from his own house, put them into Mehta Kalu Ji's hands, and said: never raise your hand to him again.
Then he said the thing that gave this story its name.
You sent him out for a good bargain, said Rai Bular Ji. Now think. What better bargain is there in the world than to take the hunger away from men who have not eaten for seven days.
Goodnight. Some things look like a loss and are not a loss at all.