21.The Stick of Truth In a city, there stood the statue (雕塑) of a famous man, who was on a horse with two silver stirrups (银马镫). Early one morning, someone climbed up and stole (偷) one stirrup. And before long four boys were brought before the police. One of them was the criminal.
However, the policemen had no way to find out who the real criminal was, and the criminal wouldn't
own up. So they had to send for a well-known judge (法官) to help them. The judge thought for a while and took out a red bag. From the bag, he drew out four sticks (棍), each the same length as the others. The judge gave one stick to each boy, telling him to bring it back the next morning, "Now, you have the stick of truth. And it will tell us who the real criminal is. When you bring back the sticks in the morning, the criminal's stick will be just a little longer than the others — about a thumbnail longer. That's how we'll know the criminal," he explained.
When the morning came, the boys went to the judge once more. And in a great silence, the boys presented their sticks to the judge. Holding up the sticks, he measured them against one another and found that one was shorter than its fellows by about a thumbnail.
"This boy here, who presented the shorter stick, is the criminal," said the judge. "Why me? I don't understand!" the boy said.
"You were afraid and decided to cut away a bit of your stick, just in case. I believe you can take us to the missing stirrup."
Later, the stirrup was found. And the boy had to keep the statue clean of dust and pigeon droppings for the rest of that year.