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Story 159: A discerning Judge
A discerning Judge
Author: Anonymous
A girl named Tangzong Puzhen was washing clothes by the sparkling river. She put a pair of gold rings on the rocks on the shore. The rogue thief Gesang stole the gold rings when she was not paying attention.
The girl reported the case to the judge. The judge questioned the rogue Gesang, who said, “The ring was given to me by my dead mother.” The judge thought for a moment and said, “There is no circumstantial evidence in this case, so you can just take one ring each.” Gesang thought, “That’s good! First, I obey the judge, and second, I get a gold ring without paying a price, so I don’t suffer any loss.” So he nodded in agreement. Tang Zong Puzhen thought, “I can’t lose a gold ring for no reason, and then say it was given to him, and I can’t get a favor.”
So he said loudly, “I don’t agree to do this, the judge’s decision is unfair.” The judge said, “Okay, okay! Now prove that the gold ring belongs to Miss Tang Zong Puzhen. Because it was originally hers, she didn’t want to give it to others for no reason. The rogue Gesang can get a gold ring without paying a price, so he agreed to do this.” In this way, the judge judged who the owner of the gold ring was based on the attitudes of the girl and the thief.
Once upon a time, a king’s concubine became pregnant. The first wife thought: “If the concubine gives birth to a son, he will definitely inherit the throne in the future, and the king will definitely promote the concubine to the principal wife.” So she wrapped a lot of cloth around her belly and told the king that she was also pregnant.
Nine months and ten days later, the concubine gave birth to a beautiful boy. The first wife took advantage of the situation and stole the child away. She came to the king and said, “I gave birth to a boy.” The concubine cried and said, “The child is not yours, but mine.” The two argued fiercely, and the king could not tell who was who, so he asked a judge to deal with the matter.
The judge said, “You two can fight for the child. Whoever gets it first gets it.”
The first wife thought, “If I can get the child, I will win.” So she pulled the child with all her strength. The second wife felt sorry for the blood and flesh falling from her body, so she didn’t dare to pull hard and let go.
The judge said, “Okay! Now it’s proven that the child was born by the concubine. She didn’t dare to pull hard for fear of hurting the child, because it was her flesh and blood.”
