The Thief Who Stole a Shadow

Birbal promised to catch a thief by dusk and began with a pot of ink and a rope of patience.

Servants trembled; someone had stolen a jewel. Birbal lined them in the courtyard and ordered each to step over a shallow pot. ‘A thief’s shadow darkens ink,’ he warned. The guilty man jumped wide and left a muddy confession on the tiles. Fear makes its own footprint; Birbal only pointed to it.