In
the palace of Ruby land there was a ruby thief. No one knew who it was, and the
thief had everyone so fooled that the only thing known about him was that he
lived in the palace, and that when you were in the palace you should always
hide your jewels.
The
King decided to find out who it was, and he asked for help from a wise dwarf
who was famed for his intelligence. The dwarf spent some days there, watching
and listening, until there was another theft. The following morning the wise
dwarf made all the palace inhabitants meet up together in the same room. After inspecting
them for the whole morning, and during lunch, without saying a word, the dwarf
started asking them all, one by one, what they knew about the stolen jewels.
Once
again, it seemed that no one had been the thief. But then, suddenly, one of the
gardeners began coughing, writhing and moaning, and finally he fell to the
floor.
The
dwarf, with a cheeky smile, explained that the food they had just eaten was
poisoned, and the only antidote for this poison was hidden inside the ruby that
had been stolen the previous night. And he explained how, some days earlier, he
himself had swapped some false rubies for the genuine ones, and that he
expected that only the thief would be able to save his life, since the poison
was particularly quick working…
The
coughs and groans spread around the room, and terror took hold of all present.
All except one person. A footman didn’t take long to run over to where he had
hidden the jewels, from where he took the final ruby. Fortunately he would be
able to open it and drink the strange liquid inside, thus saving his life.
Or
so he believed, because the gardener was, in fact, one of the dwarf’s
assistants, and the poison was nothing more than a potion prepared by the
little investigator to cause a few strong pains for a short while, but nothing
more than that. And the footman, now found out, was arrested by the guards and
taken immediately to court.
The
King, grateful, generously rewarded his wise adviser, and when he asked the
dwarf what his secret was, the dwarf smiled and said:
-“I
only try to get the person knowing the truth to reveal that truth.”
-“And
who knew it? If the thief had deceived everyone…
