The Magical Sticks

A wealthy merchant told Birbal that a thief had stolen all his possessions. The merchant suspected one of his servants and invited Birbal to his house. The latter visited the merchant's house the following day. Birbal summoned all the servants and gave each a stick of the same length. 

"These are magical sticks, and they will help us nab the thief," he said. "The culprit’s stick will grow by two inches overnight. Meet me tomorrow morning with your stick."

Birbal arrived at the merchant's house the next day to collect and inspect the sticks. One of the sticks was two inches shorter than the others.

Birbal immediately realized that the thief was the owner of the shorter stick. Fearing that his stick would grow by two inches during the night, the thief foolishly cut his stick shorter by two inches. In reality, the sticks weren't magical at all.