The Honest Man

The girl's father asked after the boy's background.

'My great grand father,' said the boy 'had been a dacoit.'

'A dacoit?,' repeated the girl's father in shock. 

'Yes, sir. Infact one of the most notorious of his profession during the early twentieth century; he specialised in train robberies,' said the boy. 

'And your grandfather? What did your grandfather do?,' asked the girl's father. 

'My grandfather could not keep up his father's legacy. I have heard from family elders that my great grandfather had been greatly disappointed in my grandfather who for the greater part of his life stuck with petty thefts, having only one time looted a bank,' said the boy. 

'And what did your father do?' 

'Well sir! He was a disappointment not just to his grandfather but even his father. He never robbed or looted anyone. He spent the prime of his life executing frauds of nominal level. Now, in his old age he whiles away his time trying to sell spurious insurance policies to unsuspecting customers, but seldom succeeds,' said the boy in a matter-of-fact tone.

'And you? What is it that you do?' asked the girl's father at last. 

'I have inherited the most diluted of my great grand father's genes. I am a bank manager since the last ten years. I do dream of pulling a sensational bank heist but so far I have not even been able to pull a loan fraud,' said the boy regretfully. 

'Well,' said the girl's father in a grave voice, 'I cannot give my daughter's hand in marriage to you.'

'But why Sir?' asked the boy earnestly. 

'You see, honesty is something I hold very dear. I like honest people and sorely dislike dishonest ones. Didn't my daughter tell you that the most important trait I am looking for in her groom is honesty?' he asked. 

'Yes Sir, she told me about your promise to her: that you will not reject a boy who earns a decent amount of money and succeeds in proving his honesty to you,' said the boy.

'And that is where you have failed. Who in their right mind would consider you an honest man?' said the girl's father. 

'Haven't I been utmost honest about my dishonest family and my dishonest dreams? Can you find in the whole world another man as honest as me?' asked the boy.

That was true. The boy's honesty was logically irrefutable and the girl's father found himself tied up in the mind boggling paradox.