Good judge

Once upon a time, the country had a district mandarin who was great in solving cases.

One day, two women came in his office. They brought a sheet of cloth. One of them said:

“Sir, morning I brought this sheet of cloth to market and sold. This woman came and asked to buy it but when I gave it to this woman. She kept and said it is her. I have asked her to return but she had not. Please give me justice, Sir”.

He turned to the second woman and heard another story.

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“It is her, the thief. This sheet of cloth is mine. I brought the sheet to market when I had weaved it and planed to sell it. This woman grabbed her chance to steal my sheet as I didn’t notice. I have caught her but she didn’t admit and has said a story as you have heard”, the woman screamed and continued saying but the mandarin interrupted her.

“Do you have any witness?”, said the mandarin.

Both of them shook their heads, they couldn’t find any witness. The mandarin ordered soldiers to come their houses and checked who the person who had loom in her house was. When the soldiers came back and talked to the mandarin that both of them had looms with same size and especially, this morning, they also brought a sheet of cloth to market. Therefore, the mandarin observed their face expressions. But, they also showed the same pain. The mandarin spent while thinking then he turned to them and said:

“Both of you can be the sheet owner but none can prove. Therefore, I will cut the sheet in half and each you will have one half”. Then he turned to soldiers and asked them to measure.

Saw soldiers who were measuring and nearly cut it, a woman suddenly burst into tears. Immediately, the mandarin asked soldiers to return the sheet to the woman who was crying. He ordered soldiers to catch the other. He said:

“Only true owner can burst into tears as her sheet is cut”.

Later, the other admitted her guilty.

Another time, while the mandarin was strolling in market, he heard curses near that. He approached to see what was going on. That is a woman who was cursing the thief who had stolen his chicken. People said that she had cursed for two days though she didn’t know who thief was. The mandarin asked his servant to go and stopped her.

“Why are you talkative?”, said the servant.

“That is not your business”, the woman answered then continued cursing.

The mandarin asked his servant to go one more time and brought her to him.

“Why are you so noisy? Is it worth, because of a chicken?” said the mandarin.

“I have spent many time taking care of it, from it was chick till it was hen and started laying eggs. Now it is hatching. The thief has stolen all, my hen and eggs”, said the woman painfully.

The mandarin turned to his servant and said loudly.

“I hate this woman. She is too cruel. She has made my ears deaf. Therefore, I want to punish her”, “Call people here and ask them to slap her cheek.”

Mandarin’s order was notified and people had to do. Though they hate her because she had tortured their ears for two day, most of them only slapped on her cheek lightly. The thief, on other hand, slapped strongly because he is the person who was angry as he had been cursed for two days.

The thief turned his way and nearly went into crowed after he clapped the woman. But, the mandarin ordered his servant to call him to and explained to others psychology of the thief. The thief couldn’t refuse, he admitted.

Other time, the mandarin went to a big temple. The abbot invited him to his room and asked him to help. The abbot lamented that he had lost a big money and didn’t know who thief was. And, he also didn’t want to make the thing be noisy he feared one of his follower was thief and didn’t want he was punished by rules. Therefore, the abbot wanted the mandarin found the thief in secret.

The mandarin looked at Buddha statue and said:

“Buddha is powerful. Why don’t you ask Buddha to help?”, he stopped a while and continue, “Buddha will made seeds in thief hand burgeon”.

Then the mandarin and the abbot held a ceremony. All monks were grouped in the ceremony. When the ceremony finished, the abbot notified.

“I has lost a big money and I think that only people living in this temple has done the think. Therefore, I has asked Buddha to made seeds burgeon if they are on thief’s hand. Each of you will receive seeds, hold them and run around the yard rounds. After that, you have to give seeds back to me”.

When the crowd of people had run several rounds, the mandarin noticed a monk who opened stealthily his hand to see seeds. Immediately, he ordered soldiers to bring him to.

“Only thief who felt nervous wants to know surely that his seeds don’t burgeon. Therefore, he will check them if he has chance and you are the person. Do you have anything to say?”

The monk couldn’t refuse. He admitted his guilty.

THE END

"Translated by Hung Nguyen"

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Tale 105: Khoa Dang Nguyen

Tale 106. Rope finds out killer

Tale 107: Good judge

Tale 108: Missing woman

Tale 109. Five-color- rat

Tale 110. O Loi Ha, lewd demon

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Truyện cổ tích Việt nam (For people who can read Vietnamese)

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