Birbal Catches the Thief
- 2 minute read
- Ages 6-11
- Moral Stories
A rich merchant came to Akbar's court in a state.
A valuable ring had gone from a locked room in his house, and only his nine servants had access to it. He had questioned all nine and every one of them denied it, and he could not tell which was lying.
"Bring them here," said Akbar, and looked at Birbal.
The sticks
The nine servants were brought and lined up in the hall, and Birbal walked along the line looking at each of them and saying nothing.
Then he sent for nine sticks and had them cut to exactly the same length.
He gave one to each servant.
"These are not ordinary sticks," he said. "They have been treated. Take yours home tonight and put it under your bed. Nothing will happen to eight of them. But the stick belonging to the person who took the ring will grow by the width of two fingers by morning. You are dismissed."
The servants went home.
The morning
They came back the next day and lined up again, holding their sticks.
Birbal walked along the line without hurrying, looking at each stick, and stopped at the seventh man.
"You took it."
The man went white and admitted it within a minute.
How
Akbar asked him afterwards how he had known.
"Eight of those sticks were exactly the length I cut them," said Birbal. "The seventh was two fingers shorter."
"Shorter?"
"He believed me," said Birbal. "So he sat up last night and cut two fingers off his own stick, so that when it grew it would come out the right length in the morning."
Akbar thought about that for a while.
"The sticks do nothing at all," he said.
"Nothing whatsoever," said Birbal. "A guilty man does not need a magic stick. He will do the work himself if you give him a reason to."
Moral of the story
Birbal never tested the sticks. He tested what each man believed about himself, and only one of them acted on it.
Questions and answers
- What had been stolen?
A valuable ring from a locked room that only the merchant's nine servants could enter.
- What did Birbal give the servants?
Nine sticks cut to exactly the same length, to keep under their beds overnight.
- What did he tell them would happen?
That the stick belonging to the thief would grow by the width of two fingers by morning.
- What did Birbal look for the next day?
Not a longer stick, but a shorter one.
- Why was the thief's stick shorter?
He believed the story, so he cut two fingers off his own stick during the night so it would appear the right length after growing.
Word meanings
- merchant
- A person who buys and sells goods.
- dismissed
- Sent away or allowed to leave.
- guilty
- Having done something wrong.
- whatsoever
- At all; used to make a negative stronger.
Questions about Birbal Catches the Thief
Who were Akbar and Birbal?
Akbar was a Mughal emperor of India in the sixteenth century. Birbal was one of his ministers, famous in folk tales for his quick thinking.
What is the moral of Birbal Catches the Thief?
That a guilty person will often reveal themselves if given a reason to act. Birbal set a test that only the thief had any motive to interfere with.
Are the Akbar and Birbal stories true?
Both men were real, but the hundreds of tales about them are folk stories collected over centuries, not historical records.
Why does this trick still work in modern versions?
Because it does not rely on magic at all. Variations of it are still described in books about questioning technique.