One
day, a rich merchant came to Birbal. He said to Birbal, “I have seven servants
in my house. One of them has stolen my bag of precious pearls. Please find out
the thief.”
So
Birbal went to the rich man’s house. He called all the seven servants in a room.
He gave a stick to each one of them. Then he said, “These are magic sticks.
Just now all these sticks are equal in length. Keep them with you and return
tomorrow. If there is a thief in the house, his stick will grow an inch longer
by tomorrow.”
The
servant who had stolen the bag of pearls was scared. He thought, “If I cut a
piece of one inch from my stick, I won’t be caught.” So he cut the stick and
made it shorter by one inch. The next day Birbal collected the sticks from the
servants. He found that one servant’s stick was short by an inch. Birbal
pointed his finger at him and said, “Here is the thief.” The servant confessed
to his crime. He returned the bag of pearls. He was sent to jail.
