In the
palace of Rubyland there was a ruby thief.
No one
knew who he was, and the thief had everyone so fooled that the only thing known
about him was that he lived in the palace, and that when you were in the palace
you should always hide your jewels.
The
King decided to find out who it was and he asked for help from a wise dwarf who
was famed for his intelligence. The dwarf spent some days there, watching and
listening, until there was another theft. The following morning the wise dwarf
made all the palace inhabitants meet up together in the same room.
After
inspecting them for the whole morning, and during lunch, without saying a word,
the dwarf started asking them all, one by one, what they knew about the stolen
jewels.
Once
again, it seemed that no one had been the thief. But then, suddenly, one of the
gardeners began coughing, writhing and moaning, and finally he fell to the
floor.
The
dwarf, with a cheeky smile, explained that the food they had just eaten was
poisoned, and the only antidote for this poison was hidden inside the ruby that
had been stolen the previous night.
And he
explained how, some days earlier, he himself had swapped some false rubies for
the genuine ones, and that he expected that only the thief would be able to
save his life, since the poison was particularly quick working…
The
cough and groans spread around the room and terror took hold of all present.
All except one person…
A
footman [servant] didn’t take long to run over to where he had hidden the jewels, from
where he took the final ruby. Fortunately he would be able to open it and drink
the strange liquid inside, thus saving his life. Or so he believed, because the
gardener was in fact, one of the dwarf’s assistants and the poison was nothing
more than a potion prepared by the little investigator to cause a few strong
pains for a short while, but nothing more than that. And the footman, now found out, was arrested by the guards and taken immediately to the court.
The
King, generously rewarded his wise adviser, and when he asked the dwarf what
his secret was the dwarf smiled and said: I only try to get the person knowing
the truth to reveal that truth.
"And who
knew it? If the thief had deceived everyone…", said the king
No, your majesty, not everyone. Anyone can deceive everyone, but no one can deceive
themselves.
The End
