Birbal Caught the Thief

Birbal grew more and more famous. In time, he became the king’s favorite. Akbar would consult him in all matters, and gave him great powers. He used to solve most of the problems of  Akbar's court. Once a rich merchant’s house was burgled. The merchant was angry and he suspected that the thief was one among his servants. He tried to find out who the thief was on his own, but failed. He approached Birbal and narrated the whole incident. Birbal went to the merchant’s house and ordered all the servants to assemble in the front hall. When all the 5 servants assembled Birbal asked them about the burglary. On inquiry, all the servants denied the charges. Birbal knew that one of them is the culprit and came up with an idea. Birbal then gave each one of them a stick of the same length and told them to go home with the stick.He also said that their stick was a magical stick and the stick will become shorter by two inches in length, by the next day but the stick of the real thief will remain the same.The servants went home with the sticks. Next day Birbal called all the servants and asked them to show their sticks. He found that the stick of one of the servant was short by two inches. He then declared that he is the thief. The merchant and others were surprised at Birbal decision. Birbal explained that the thief when took home the stick he got worried, and thought that if it is a magical stick then his stick will not become short like others so he cut off two inches from the stick, fearing he will be caught. But in fact it was not a magical stick rather it was an ordinary stick. Akbar was very happy with Birbal fair judgement.

The End