They say that two people, one named Habba, the other Mugaffal, decided to start a trading business together.
One day outside the city they found a wallet on the road containing a thousand dinars.
They decided to immediately return to the city and, approaching the city wall, began to divide the money.
“Take half of this gold for yourself, and give me the other half,” said Mugaffal to Khabbe.
But Habba decided to appropriate all the money for himself.
“We won’t divide,” he answered Mugaffal, “let each of us take a little for expenses, and bury the rest under a tree.” This place is safe; when we need money, we will come here and take as much as we need.
They took some money and buried the rest under a tree and went to the city. After some time, Habba came to the tree alone, took all the buried dinars and returned to his home.
A month later, Habba came to Mugaffal.
“Let’s go get some money for expenses,” he said.
They went to the tree and began to dig in the ground, but found nothing. Habba began to scold Mugaffal, pull his beard, and reward him with blows.
- You took the money! No one knew this place except you! - he shouted.
And the angry Mugaffal, in turn, began to curse the unknown thief.
Then they went to the judge and told him their story.
-Can you prove the truth of your accusation? Judge asked Habbu.
“Yes,” replied Habba. “The tree under which the dinars were buried will itself confirm that Mugaffal took the money.”
The fact was that Habba ordered his father to hide in a hollow tree and, if necessary, answer instead of a tree.
“Come with us to the tree,” Habba said to the judge. And everyone - the judge, Habba and Mugaffal - went to the tree. The judge asked a question, and the old man answered:
- Yes, Mugaffal took the dinars.
The judge was very surprised when he heard this answer. He walked around the tree and noticed the edge of a garment sticking out of the hollow. Then he ordered the tree to be set on fire. Sensing his impending doom, Habba's father gave himself away and begged for help. The judge interrogated him, and the old man told everything as it happened. The judge took away the dinars from Habba and gave them to Mugaffal, and punished Habba.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru