Once upon a time there lived a good man named Koylubay. One day he decided to make a pilgrimage to holy places. So he left all his savings, one hundred gold coins, to his neighbour, asked him to keep the money until his return, and hit the road...
There passed some years and the man returned home happy from his hajj. He came then to his neighbour and asked him to give back the money. The neighbour was an old and respected man, but as it turned out, very greedy and shameless.
"You are mistaken," - he said, - "You did not leave me any money for keeping."
Koylubay came out frustrated. He told his friends about the case and they advised him:
"All is the will of God! But go to our judge. He is a wise man and he can find out what had happened. He might help you to return your money."
So Koylubay went to the judge. The judge summoned the old man and said:
"Aksakal (the addressing to an old respected man), you are old enough and it's not good for you to lie in the face of a judge. Tell us the truth - did you get a hundred gold coins from this man for keeping?"
The old man did not hesitate and replied:
"My son, I have never received any money from him. Allah is my witness. I have a white beard, and I have no need to lie before you!"
"Do you have witnesses that you had given him your money?" - asked the judge, referring to Koylubay.
"I have long known this old man and could not even imagine that one day I would need a witness." - said Koylubay.
"Well, and at what place you gave him the money?" - the judge asked Koylubay.
"There grows a single poplar tree not far from our village," - said Koylubay. - "In the shadow of that tree I gave him a hundred gold coins."
"Thus you, good man, must go to that place, and cut down and bring here that poplar tree. And let the poplar tell us, how you gave this old man a hundred gold coins," - said the judge.
"Master," - was surprised Koylubay, - "How could I manage to drag the poplar here?"
"Take my stamp, then show it to the poplar, and he himself will come here," - said the judge.
Koylubay, still marvelling of such a wonder, took the stamp out of the hands of the judge and walked down the street to the poplar.
The old man remained in the courtroom, sitting and calmly waiting for what happened next. He knew definitely that the poplar tree would never come to the judge!
Meanwhile the judge could not sit still in his chair and began pacing impatiently back and forth in the room. When a half an hour passed, the judge asked the old man:
"Father, tell me please, whether our friend came to the poplar?"
"No, he isn't yet there," - said the old man.
Some time passed and the judge asked again:
"And now has he reached the place?"
"Oh, yeah, he has already come to the poplar," - confidently replied the old man.
When an hour had passed there, the judge asked the old man for a third time:
"What do you think, dear, if Koylubay is walking back?"
"Yeah, sure, it's time to come back," - agreed the old man.
And at that moment Koylubay, saddened and tired, entered the courtroom. He returned the stamp to the judge and said:
"Master, having come to the place, I showed your stamp to the poplar but he didn't budge. Unfortunately I returned alone, because it is necessary to have several bulls, - to bring the tree here."
The judge laughed and said:
"The poplar has already come to me and went then back some time ago."
And only then began to worry the old man, and he asked the judge:
"How could it happen? When was the poplar here? If he came, then I would see him!"
Here the judge smiled and said quietly:
"I asked you for three times. The first time you said that Koylubay did not reach the poplar. The second time you replied that he had already reached the place. And the third time you said that he was coming back. If you had not received the money from this fellow, you wouldn't have known the road to the poplar! Thus it became clear to me that it was you, who had got one hundred gold coins from this good man."
Then the old man pleaded guilty and returned Koylubay his money.
![The Shrewd Judge [Славянский Владимир Владимирович]](/img/s/slawjanskij_wladimir_wladimirowich/theshrewdjudge/theshrewdjudge-1.jpg)