Once, a rich merchant’s house was robbed. The merchant
suspected that the thief was one of his servants. So he went to King Akbar and
put forth his grievance. After hearing all about the incident, King Akbar
called Birbal and asked his help. Birbal went to the merchant’s house and
assembled all of his servants and asked that who stole the merchant’s things.
Everybody denied.
Birbal thought for a moment, then gave a stick of equal
length to all the servants of the merchant and said to them that these sticks
are magical and the stick of the
real thief will be longer by two inches tomorrow. All the
servants should be present here again tomorrow with their sticks.
All the servants went to their homes and gathered again at
the same place the next day. Birbal asked them to show him their sticks. One of
the servants had his stick shorter by two inches. Birbal said, “This is your
thief, merchant.”
Later the merchant asked Birbal, “How did you catch him?”
Birbal said, “The thief had already cut his stick short by two inches in the
night fearing that his stick
will be longer by two inches by morning.”
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