BIRBAL THE WISE

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.