THE WISE OLD MAN

                   THE WISE OLD MAN

The wise old Wazir was famous for his judgment and people came to him for justice from all parts of the country.  One day two men came to his court and claimed ownership of an extraordinary good-looking horse. It was a black beauty indeed. One of the men was tall, very well-dressed and soft-spoken. The other one was just the opposite. Each of them to said that the horse was his. The Wazir heard them patiently and asked them to leave the horse and come to him next morning. Both the men came the next morning. The wazir asked his soldiers to give the horse to the tall man and to arrest the other man. The tall man wanted to know how the Wazir had learnt the truth. “Very simple”, he said, “Firstly, a man of your appearance and manners could not have been the thief. Still, I wanted to be sure, just after you had left the court, I asked one of my soldiers to leave the horse free and to see whom it followed. It went after you. This hint was enough for me.”