History
There are several stories that attempt to explain how knife money was introduced but it is not certain if any or all are true. In one of the stories a prince who was running low on money to pay his troops allowed them to use their knives as a form of currency to barter with villagers and the medium became so popular that it became generally accepted. In another story, the same prince began accepting knives as payment for small fines in the place of the current legal ring currency. Knife money may also have been brought in by sea traders from the Indian Ocean.
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—Henry David Thoreau (18171862)
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