One day Bao Kung sat down in a palanquin and went to court to settle matters. He is driving along the street, he looks: a boy is sitting on a stone slab, the slab is old, already blackened, he is sitting and crying bitterly. And next to him stands a wicker bamboo basket.
Bao Kung ordered the porters to stop, called the boy and asked:
- Who hurt you, boy? Why are you crying?
The boy answers:
“I’ve been selling donuts since the morning.” He traded for two hundred coppers and put the money in the basket. Then the magician came and began performing tricks. I sat down on this stone and began to look. I didn't look for long. Then I looked in the basket, but there was no money.
The boy said this and cried even more bitterly.
Bao Gong listened to the boy, frowned, thought for a while and said:
— The money was in a basket, the basket stood on a stone, Suddenly the money disappeared. Surely the stone slab stole them. Guards! Deliver the boy and the stove to Yamen for interrogation.
People heard that Bao Kung would interrogate a stone slab and pass steel to each other; it is not for nothing that they say: one will tell ten, ten will tell a hundred. They were amazed and quickly ran to Yamenya to listen to the interrogation.
Bao Kung went up into the hall and ordered the stove to be brought in and placed in front of the table. He ordered the boy next to the stove to stand, and all the people sat on both sides of the table.
Bao-gun sat down in the judge's seat and began the interrogation:
- Admit it, stone slab, did you steal money from the boy? Just tell the truth, otherwise I will order you to be beaten and tortured.
But the stone, it is a stone, lies to itself and is silent. Bao Kung became furious, hit the table, and ordered the guards to beat the stove. The people heard that the judge ordered the stone to be beaten, laughter, and that’s all! But you can’t laugh in the Yamyna - it’s scary. The guards raised their sticks and began to pound the stone. They beat, pound, and splinters from the sticks fly in all directions. The people here couldn’t stand it, they laughed so loudly that you couldn’t hear the sticks hitting the stone.
Only Bao-kung doesn’t laugh, he knocks on the boards to calm the people down, and says:
- Don’t you know the order? Don’t know how to behave in the Yamyna? Guards! Lock the doors and don't let anyone out!
People see that Bao Kung is angry, they fall to their knees and beg for mercy.
Judge says:
“Okay, this time I’ll spare you, just let everyone give you a coin before going home.” If you agree, I will let you go in peace.
Bao-kung ordered the guards to bring a large vat of water and place it in the middle of the hall. Then he told everyone to throw a coin into the vat, and he stood nearby and watched. One after another, coins fall into the vat, people leave the hall one after another. But then a man came up and threw a coin into the vat. Bao-gun looks - circles of fat are floating on the water.
As the judge shouts:
- It was you, dog, who stole money from the child? Confess!
The thief was frightened and was trembling all over.
Bao-kung ordered to search the thief, the guards found one hundred and ninety-nine coins from him, with the coin that he threw into the vat, exactly two hundred. Bao-kung gave all two hundred coins to the boy, and ordered the thief to be thoroughly beaten and thrown out.
Only then did everyone understand why Bao Gong needed to interrogate the stone slab. From that time on, people began to revere the wise judge more than before.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru