In the city of Delhi, there lived an old man. He had saved one thousand gold coins from his small income. The old man had a long desire to go on pilgrimage. One day, he decided to fulfill his wish.
Before leaving for the pilgrimage, he went to his young neighbor and kept the gold coins in his custody.
After
a month, the old man returned from pilgrimage and went straight to
collect his gold coins from his neighbor. But to his shock, the young
neighbor flatly refused to know anything about those gold coins.
Perplexed
by the young man's dishonesty, the old man approached the court of
Akbar (King). As usual, Birbal (Minister) had to handle the case. Birbal
called the young man and enquired with him about the complaint. But
that man lied in front of Birbal too.
The old man repeatedly was saying that his young neighbor had usurped his money, whereas his neighbor was equally vociferous in denying his allegation.
Birbal asked the old man. "Is there any proof in support of your allegation?'
"No sir, there is no proof. When I gave him the money, we were all alone under a mango tree," replied the man, quite disappointed.
Birbal was an experienced man. The sad eyes of the old man were speaking that he was true. However there was no witness. Birbal said to the old man, "The mango tree was the only witness in your case. So go and bring the mango tree here to the court."
The old man was astonished to hear this. However he could not dare to say anything and walked away for the place where the mango tree was.
After sometime, Birbal asked the young man, "What do you think? Would the old man have reached the mango tree by now?"
At once the young man replied "No Sir, the tree is not so close. It will take time."
After sometime, the old man came back and said, "Sir, I gave your message to the tree, but it did not speak anything and did not budge from its place."
Birbal replied, "Now you don't worry! When you were not here, the mango tree came here and told the truth."
At the time when the young man said that the mango tree was not so close, it proved that the old man was right. Birbal lashed the young man badly, "You cheat! You tried to usurp the money of this poor old man. You must get punishment."
The young man fell on Birbal's feet and accepted his crime. He gave the money back to the old man. The old man thanked Birbal for his help and went away happily.
