Once upon a time, Akbar lost a ring which was very valuable. The ring was a gift from his father and Akbar became very sad. Akbar asked Birbal to come and see him.
King Akbar said, “Dear Birbal, please find this ring for me. It was a gift from my father and it is of great value to me.”
Birbal said, “Yes, my lord. I shall find the thief for you by tomorrow.”
The next day, Birbal asked all the courtiers to come close to the throne. Birbal made sure that could see everyone in the crowd.
Birbal said, “The ring belonging to the King is missing. Among one of you is a thief. And I know who the thief is. He is such a fool.”
Akbar was very surprised and asked, “Who is the thief Birbal?”
Birbal said, “The thief is the one who has a straw stuck on his beard. All the others have a clean beard.”
Immediately, every courtier started to look around to see which one had a straw stuck on the beard. Only one courtier was not looking around and was stroking his beard trying to find the straw.
Birbal pointed at the man and said, “My king, he is the thief. Please ask the guards to search him.”
The guards searched the man and the ring was in his pocket. Akbar became so happy on finding the ring.
He asked Birbal, “How did you know that he was the thief?”
Birbal said, “It is very simple. Everyone was looking around trying to find the thief. Only the true thief was trying to remove a straw from his beard. Of course there was no straw in his beard. Only those who are guilty will try to hide.”
Moral: A guilty mind will always be scared.
