Grain of Rice

Over 200,000 copies sold! Now with a newly refreshed design, this classic mathematical folktale tells the story of a clever farmer who outwits the Emperor of China and becomes the wealthiest man in the world—all starting with one grain of rice. When a humble farmer named Pong Lo asks for the hand of the Emperor’s beautiful daughter, the Emperor is enraged. Whoever heard of a peasant marrying a princess? But Pong Lo is wiser than the Emperor knows. And when he concocts a potion that saves the Princess’s life, the Emperor gladly offers him any reward he chooses—except the Princess. Pong Lo makes a surprising request. He asks for a single grain of rice, doubled every day for one hundred days. The baffled Emperor obliges—only to discover that if you’re as clever as Pong Lo, you can turn a single grain of rice into all the wealth and happiness in the world!