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There was a land where mostly monkeys lived. It was called Monkeyland. People of the Monkeyland elected a clever lion as their president. Her name was Aslan. Aslan governed the land for many years. There was more than enough food for every one. Thousands of bananas, apples... A lot of carrots, tomatoes, coconuts... There were no homeless, no drug users. Every monkey had a health insurance... Of the universal kind... There was no smoking, no alcohol, no stealing, no jealousy, no fighting, and even no biting. Students were very curious to learn more and more. Monkey babies were not sucking their thumbs anymore.  

Everything was good; but one year most of the coconut trees got angry for some reason. They decided not to grow coconut for one season. The shortage of coconuts raised their price all around the Monkeyland. It was a coconut recession. Monkeys started counting their coconuts in their huts. Even many started hiding them in their clay jars.  

There was still no problem, until one day a flock of monkeys on the north side of the island started screaming. Their voice echoed all around the island. The news was bed, very bad. There was theft in that flock. Three coconuts were stolen.  

When bad news reached Aslan, she got very upset. How can a thief live in their midst. She had not witnessed a crime like that in her entire life. She learned about big crimes only from history books. Theft was a primitive behavior.  

It was a serious, a very serious case. Because crimes were contagious. They knew that. Everybody could  start stealing from each other soon. Thus, all the monkeys of the Monkeyland wanted the criminal to be found and punished.  

Aslan wore her blue boots and rushed to the north side. "I want all the members of this congregation come here right now!" ordered Aslan. Eleven monkeys showed up.  

"Spare the children," she asked from the leader of the congregation, "Because children do not steal." The leader agreed with Aslan, "Yes, you're right. Even the history books says that: children never steal."  

So, they spared the seven children. "How many suspect do we have now?" Aslan asked the leader. "Three," said the leader. Aslan knew that tehere was a mistake. Seven minus eleven was four, not three. Later, the problem was solved. The leader had not counted himself. Aslan reminded everybody the eleventh commandment of the constitution: "Do not favor anybody in the court." So, all the four suspects were lined up:  

1. Flat-ear  

2. Shaky-tail  

3. Long-finger  

4. Beetle-browed  

Aslan told them: "Whoever stole the coconuts better confess. Otherwise, he or she will be exposed." Flat-ear waved her ears. Shaky-tail trembled his tail. Long-finger crossed her fingers. Beetle-browed frowned his eyebrows. But none of them confessed the crime.  

Aslan immediately announced a national meeting in the center of the Monkeyland for the trial. Three hundred seventy six monkeys showed up. This was thirteen less than the entire monkey population on the land. Trees, little hills filled with monkeys. The four suspect were standing in the center.  

Aslan told everybody to be quiet until she finds the thief. She repeated her appeal again: "If the criminal confess his/her crime before I expose him/her with the bewitched bread we will pardon him/her." There was no reply.  

Aslan divided a piece of bread into four big bites. Then, she made some witchcraft on them. Before she gave them to the suspects she announced, "The criminal will not be able to swallow the bread. Every one must look at the face of the one that has hard time in swallowing the bread. The bread will turn to a piece of rug in thief's mouth and the thief's color will turn red."  

All the monkeys got exited. Flat-ear, Shaky-tail, Long-finger, Beetle-browed started chewing their pieces of bread. It was a tough competition. Whoever stays behind would be labeled as a thief.  

But the witch did not work as it was foretold. Only one of them could swallow the bread. The other three were tired of chewing. Their faces were all blood-red. In fact, it was nothing to do with witchcraft. Aslan  had learned this trick from her psychology book, which reads: "If a person gets nervous or anxious, his/her mouth gets dry automatically." She assumed that if the thief believes the witchcraft, her/his mouth would get dry from the fear , thus, could not swallow the bread.  

However, the others also got nervous for some other reasons. Now, Aslan  had three suspects:  

1. Flat-ear  

2. Shaky-tail  

3. Long-finger  

Aslan told everybody that he found the criminal. (In fact she was bluffing). She assured that she will expose the thief in the next trial.  

Aslan  ordered the carpenters to build quickly a small hut in the center. When everybody came back after the lunch the hut was ready. Aslan  wanted the windows be covered by leaves.  

Aslan  took one of her blue boots off and raised it up. "This is a magic boot. It can recognize the thief from his/her finger. Now, I'm putting my boot in this small hut. Then, every suspect one by one will enter the hut and close the door. When the suspect is alone in the hut he/she must touch my blue boot with his/her right index finger. Then they must come out with their eyes and hands closed. After each suspect I'll enter the hut, close the door and ask my boot about its opinion."  

This was also a trick. Aslan  had polished her blue boot just before the trial. Anytime she entered the hut she renewed its polish and hid the shoe polish in the boot. If the thief had believed in magic he/she would have not touched the "magic boot."  

The four suspect monkeys one by one entered the hut, and came out their eyes and hands closed. After each of them Aslan  entered the hut and renewed the polish. All of the suspects were out in the line for the result. But still there was no clue which one was the thief.  

Aslan  suggested everybody to be quiet and look at the right index fingers of suspects. Then, Aslan  ordered the four suspect to stretch their hands up and open their eyes and index fingers.  

Two of them had blue index fingers. Long-finger's index finger was not colored. Her punishment was to break everybody's coconut upon their request. 

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