The Ruby Thief Story
Ruby thief lived in Rubyland Palace. No one knew who it was, and the thief so fooled everyone that all they knew about him was that he lived in the palace, and that when you were in the palace you should always hide your jewels.
The king decided to find out who it was, and asked for help from a wise dwarf, famous for his intelligence. The dwarf spent several days there, watching and listening, until another theft occurred.
The next morning, the wise dwarf forced all the inhabitants of the palace to gather together in one room. Looking at them all morning and during dinner, without saying a word, the dwarf began to question them all, one by one, what they knew about the stolen jewels.
Once again, it seemed that no one was the thief. But then all of a sudden one of the gardeners started coughing and writhing and moaning and finally fell to the floor. With a cheeky smile, the dwarf explained that the food they had just eaten was poisoned, and the only antidote for that poison was hidden inside the ruby stolen last night.
And he explained how a few days before that he himself had replaced the fake rubies with real ones and hoped that only a thief could save his life, since the poison acted especially quickly … Coughs and groans were heard.
Around the room, and horror seized all those present. All but one person. The footman did not have to wait long to run to where he had hidden the jewels, where he had taken the last ruby. Fortunately, he will be able to open it and drink the strange liquid inside, thus saving his life.
Or so he thought, because the gardener was actually one of the gnome’s helpers, and the poison was nothing more than a potion prepared by the little explorer to cause some severe pain for a short time, but nothing more. And the Lackey, who was now recognized, was arrested by the guards and immediately taken to court.
The grateful king generously rewarded his wise adviser, and when he asked the dwarf what his secret was,
the dwarf smiled and said,
“I am only trying to get the man who knows the truth to reveal that truth.”
“And who knew that? If the thief had deceived everyone… – No, Your Majesty, not everyone. Everyone can deceive everyone, but no one can deceive themselves.”
