The Oh, Welcome to another episode from one thousand one classic short stories and tales.

In this story by Russian author Anton Chekoff,

a banker and a lawyer get into a deep conversation

about the death penalty, with the banker expressing

his belief that death is the option any sane person would choose over prison.

The lawyer disagrees, and the banker bets him 2 million that he can't last five years.

To the banker's shock, the lawyer accepts and the papers are drawn up.

The moral of the story, some would say, is that the most precious

asset on earth is time, not money or freedom, and what you do with that time. It makes for an interesting debate. And now the

bet by Anton Chekhov. It was a dark autumn night.

The old banker was walking up and down his study and remembering how, 15 years before, he had

given a party one autumn evening.

There had been many clever men there, and there had been interesting conversations.

Among other things, they had talked of capital punishment.

The majority of the guests, among whom were many journalists and intellectual men disapproved of the death penalty. They considered that form of punishment out of date

immoral and non-suitable for Christian states. In the opinion of some of them

the death penalty ought to be replaced everywhere by imprisonment for life.

I don't agree with you, said their host, the banker.

I have not tried either the death penalty or imprisonment for life,

but if one may judge a priori,

the death penalty is more moral and more humane than

imprisonment for life. Capital punishment kills a man at once, but lifelong

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