Whose Money Bag?

The city of Kancheepuram was
well known for its prosperity.
As a trading centre it attracted
merchants from all over the
world.

Once, a foreign trader visited
that city and brought with him
five hundred gold pieces with
which he intended to trade. He
was a little careless with his
money and soon everyone came
to know that he had a lot of
gold on him.

One day as he was walking
down the street, a strange
woman sprang up and clutching
him by the hand exclaimed,
"Aha, you are the 1 one who stole
my money. Come on, out with
it. Give me back my five hun-
dred gold pieces."

The startled trader gasped
and said, "What do you mean.



your money? I don't under-
stand."

But the woman insisted that
the money was hers. Soon a
big crowd gathered, and the
confusion was great. One man
in the crowd exclaimed, "Why
do you quarrel so? Go to the
Judge and he will settle the
dispute."

The case went to the Judge.
The woman insisted vehemently
that the trader had indeed
robbed her of that much money,

The- Judge was perplexed in
the extreme. He could not
bring himself to disbelieve the
woman though the pathetic
stance of the trader attracted
his attention.

So he said to the merchant,
*' Give that ' money to the
woman."



i

The trader was taken aback
by this, but as he had no other
alternative, he gave her the
bag containing the money.

As the woman left the Court,
the Judge whispered to the tra-
der, "Run after that woman
and try to snatch her bag."

The trader ran after her
and tried to snatch the bag
from her hand. But she held
on and dragged the trader
back to the Court. She exclai-
med to the Judge, "Sir, you
ordered me to take the bag from
him, and now he tries to take it
away from me by force. I have
caught him red-handed in the
act."



As soon as the Judge heard,
this, he ordered his men to take
the bag from her and give it to
the trader. Then he said, "This
bag rightfully belongs to the
trader. The woman brought
him to the Court as soon as he
tried to snatch the bag. If he
had indeed stolen it from her,
she would have lodged a com-
plaint with the Court before.
As she did not do it, I declare
that she is a cheat who is trying
to relieve honest people of their
money."

The woman could not deny
the charges against her and so
admitted her guilt.