Quote:
A book of riddles found in folklore tells the story of a particularly eccentric but cunning judge. A poor young boy was selling sticky buns on a street corner next to a large rock. The boy dozed off, and when he woke up, the money that he'd stashed at the bottom of his bun-basket was stolen. He went to a local judge, who deduced that, obviously, the rock must have stolen the money! He put the rock on trial, interpreted its silence as a confession of guilt, and sentenced it to public flogging when it refused to yield the money. The crowd that had gathered to watch laughed loud and long; the judge then turned on them, calling for each to pay a five-cent fine - dropping their money into a huge jar of water. He watched as each person shuffled forward and paid their fine — until he pointed at a man walking away and cried "Arrest him! He stole the boy's money!" Astonished, the thief confessed and turned over his contraband. His frosting-covered coins left a greasy film on the surface of the water — and exposing him was the goal of the entire sham trial.