A dying King called his three sons to him and gave each of them a
ruby. "Keep this," said he, "in remembrance of your father."
The three rubies were put into a box and locked up. Some time
afterwards, on opening the box, only two rubies were found in it,
and the third one was missing.
Now the three sons knew that had a thief been there, he would have
helped himself to all the stones, so they said within themselves:
"One of our friends has done this; let us go and tell the Priest."
So they started off together, and on the way met a man, who said:
"Friends, have you seen my camel?"
"Was it blind?" asked the eldest brother.
"Yes," said the man.
"Had it no tail?" asked the second.
"You are right," said the man.
"Was it carrying vinegar?" enquired the third.
"Yes," replied the man. "Did you see it?"
"No," said the brothers; "we did not see it."
"Very strange," returned the man; "you know all about it, and yet you
did not see it. I will also go to the Priest and tell him about you."
So they went, and the man told the Priest his story.
"How is it that you three know all about the camel, and yet you did
not see it?" said the Priest.
"Well," said the eldest, "I noticed that all the plants and shrubs on
the way were eaten on one side only, so I concluded that the animal
who had eaten them must have been blind not to see the other side."
"How did you know that it had no tail?"
"I saw the patch of mud where it sat down," replied the second brother,
"and there was an imprint of a body but no tail."
The Priest then asked the third boy how he knew that the camel
carried vinegar.
"Because all along the road were wet patches which smelt of vinegar."
These answers pleased the Priest very much, and he gave a feast for
the brothers.
During the feast he sat down, and, unknown to them, watched and
listened to find out what they were talking about.
The eldest said: "This grain he has given us to eat was grown in
a cemetery."
The second said: "And this meat is not killed meat; it is some
other flesh."