Problem solving story: Who is obligated to pay the “mountain” tax

Once upon a time, there lived a magical dragon that no one could see or hear and no one knew it existed. The only way it could communicate with people was through their dreams, where it could appear as anything it wished, be it an animal, item, or person. As people fell asleep and started dreaming the magical dragon would enter their dreams, and see their thoughts, their memories, and all of their wishes. The magical dragon felt fulfilled when it could make dreams come true for people that were good. Sometimes when the magical dragon wanted to do good and made a wish come true it inadvertently caused a change in a person’s behavior and that person started taking advantage of other people. In such cases, the magical dragon felt obligated to intervene and create new situations in which it would try to get the person to change his or her way. If that didn’t work the magical dragon took away what it gave and went on.

One day the magical dragon stopped at a village by a big forest it had never been to before. So it took its time and visited the dreams of every villager. After a few days, the dragon found out about a wish most of the villagers had. Almost all of them wished that they wouldn’t have to travel for two days to get to the nearest mountain where some would pick herbs, some would hunt, and others would just go there to clear…