The guy who was disgraced really didn't need to be. He knows that he could have haggled more than he did and he knew that the mangy, worn out donkey wasn't worth that much. However, the important thing is that he even haggled at all. In Turkey, the people haggle a lot for everyday items and when they don't get their best price on something, they get upset. The guy got upset because he didn't haggle enough, but what he should have looked at was the fact that he haggled the price from 10,000 liras to 2,500 liras. The American wanted to buy the donkey not the disgraced guy, so if the American bought the Donkey for 2,500 liras or 10,000 liras, it wasn't the disgraced guy's responsibility to haggle the price. It was nice of him to do what he did though. The disgraced guy shouldn't have been disgraced at all, because in life you will have more important things to be disgraced about. To get worked up about this one thing just doesn't make sense and is a waste of time. The disgraced guy could have just stood there and watched the American buy the donkey for 10,000 liras. He didn't, so he should be happy and move on with his life.
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I agree with you, Bobbie. I also feel that the man should not have been as disgraced as he was. But also, I looked at it from his perspective. I realized that the man was upset because the stubborn peasant had charged them such a high price for the old donkey. But, it took me a little longer to notice that he may have just been hard on himself. Like you stated, he did get the price down very low from the starting price. He should have been happy, but instead was very disgraced. The peasant selling the donkey was very strong and was set on selling the donkey and only the donkey, of which they would find out later on. Maybe the man was upset because he wanted his American friend to get the cloth at the best deal - and they both thought that they would get the cloth, and get it for a cheap price. I know he shouldn't have felt like it was his fault, but still I can see how he may have thought that this whole situation was all a result of his actions and may have felt guilty that his friend went home with an iron stake.
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