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57. COINS
A certain man wanting to go on a long journey, filled his purse with precious gold coins, sealed it carefully and left it in the custody of a reliable friend and went away. He could not come back home for a very long time and the man who had accepted the purse only as a deposit, could not retain his patience. He broke the seal and was delighted to see the pure gold of the coins. He replaced all the pure gold with the present day coins made of inferior gold and sealed the purse again. After a long interval the owner of the purse returned and asked for the purse. He got it back. He was even happy to see that the seal was the same as before but when he opened the purse, he realised that the coins inside were not the same. They were of much inferior quality.
When their quarrel went to the king's judge, the judge asked the man how long it was since he had left the money in the purse and the purse with the man. He spoke of a very very long time and the judge saw that the coins in the purse appeared to be of recent currency. He could quite see that the accused was telling a lie and deserved punishment for his dishonesty. He was made to restore the original gold coins to the owner and was sent to prison.
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