This reminds me of a story I read growing up. I can't find the reference now, though I'm pretty sure I read it in an old copy of "1000 and 1 Arabian Nights".

The way it went, there was a poor man who lived above a restaurant who subsisted primarily on rice. He discovered that by eating by his open window, the smells drifting up from the food cooking below would add flavor to his meager meals. When the restaurant owner discovered this, he became angry and demanded payment from the poor man who naturally refused. The restaurant owner pulled the poor man before a local magistrate demanding that the magistrate force the man to pay. After thinking for a while, the magistrate asked if the poor man had any money, which he did. The magistrate then directs the poor man to jingle the money and said that the payment for the smell of the restaurant owner's food was the sound of money.

I can't retell it nearly as well as the original, which is probably online somewhere but not anywhere I know about ... :(