No one knew who the thief was. The man had five servants, and one of them was definitely the culprit, but each one said he did not know who the thief was.It was impossible for the owner to accuse all five of his servants, for they were certainly not all in collusion. Finally the rich man sought the advice of the King, who was a very wise.
My master once taught me magic, and I tell you that these five sticks have magic in them. Now I am giving each of you one of these magic sticks. They are all the same length. Tomorrow morning each of you has to bring his own stick back to me. Whoever has committed the theft will see that his stick has grown an inch longer than all the others. Then he will be caught.
He will not be able to deny his guilt.” Now when they heard this, the four innocent servants were quite calm. But the guilty one was scared and anxiety. He thought "Since I am the thief and magic will expose me.”
Finally he decided that the best thing would be to cut his stick an inch shorter, so that when it grew an inch it would still be the same length as all the others.The next morning the five servants presented their sticks to the King, who measured them against each other. “How is it that your stick is one inch shorter than the others?” he asked the guilty servant.
“Shorter?” said the servant. “That is no problem. You said it had to be one inch longer for the thief to be identified.”
But the King replied, “You fool, if the magic that I put inside this stick has the power to make it longer, it also has the power to make it shorter. You are caught.”
Learn from Story
What do we learn from this story? The sincere ones, even if they are accused, will eventually be freed, but the insincere ones, today or tomorrow, will be exposed.
What do we learn from this story? The sincere ones, even if they are accused, will eventually be freed, but the insincere ones, today or tomorrow, will be exposed.
