In a small village on the edge of the forest lived two friends - Santuram and Anthuram. Santuram was a kind and hardworking fellow, but his friend Anthuram, on the contrary, was lazy and greedy.
One day, Anthuram asked his friend to borrow a thousand coins, promising to return them soon. Time passed, but he did not repay the debt. Ultimately, a frustrated Santhuram was forced to go to court. When the judge asked Anthuram if this was really the case, he answered under oath that this was the first time he had heard about it. The judge listened to him carefully and turned to Santhuram:
-Who could you bring as witnesses?
“Nobody,” he answered. “I lent him money under a branchy oak tree when we were alone in the dense forest.
Anthuram again confirmed under oath that he did not know about any money and had never seen a branchy oak tree in the dense forest. The judge again silently and carefully listened to the liar’s testimony and said, turning to Santhuram:
- Go to the forest, find this oak tree and bring it here. This will be your witness.
- Your Grace! How can I bring a tree here if it cannot walk, and how can it be a witness if it cannot speak?
The judge replied:
“I will give you a summons, take it to the tree, and you will see that it will come here as a witness.”
The judge issued a summons, and Santhuram went into the forest with it. Anthuram waited with curiosity to see what would happen next. Half an hour after Santhuram left, the judge looked out the window and said:
– For some reason Santuram doesn’t return for a long time. Probably this tree is so far in the forest that we will have to wait until dark.
Stupid Anthuram replied:
- No, your honor, it stands on the edge of the forest, I think Santuram has already approached it. From here it's about an hour's walk.
And sure enough, two hours later Santhuram returned back.
- Your Grace! - he said. “I did everything as you ordered, but the tree did not respond and continued to stand rooted to the spot.”
“You are mistaken, my friend,” replied the judge. “As soon as the tree received my summons, it immediately hurried here and explained everything to me. Listen to my verdict: Anthuram must return your money, and I put him in prison for a year for perjury.
Anturam, not expecting such a turn of events, was indignant:
- Your Grace! I was here all this time and did not see any witness tree. How can you say that the tree came here and testified against me?
The judge chuckled and replied:
- You are a fool. Your own tongue was a witness against you. When you came here, you insisted that you had not been in any forest and did not know any tree. If this is true, then how could you know that it takes two hours to get there and back? So, you know his whereabouts very well.
Thus, the honest Santhuram received his money back, and the liar Anthuram was severely punished.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru