The magic jar

I was on my way out to town this morning when I realised that two of my car tyres had been stolen. The thief/thieves also took away the toolbox. I will have to spend a lot of money to replace the tyres. But with only little hard-earned money left in my hand from a recent freelance writing job I did, I'm left to wonder how I could ever purchase the new tyres. The kids must go to school next week and I need to move about to do my work. So, I'm desperate for tyres. To cool mysef from anger, I searched for a story (by the way, anger is one better short of danger). Here's what I recalled:

A theft had occured in a village. Villagers went to see a priestess who was known for her wisdom and asked if she could perform some black magic on whoever was responsible. She told them that black magic was not a good thing and suggested another way. That evening, she called all the villagers together at her house. "Here's a magic jar." Then she gave the following instruction. "I want all of you to touch it. The jar will tell who among us is the culrprit." When all had understood, she turned off the light. After the last person had touched the jar, she turned the light back on. Apparently, she had smeared the jar with charcoal. Everyone who touched it had their their fingers blackened by the charcoal except the thief who did not do it for he was afraid that the so called magic jar would identify him. The police were later called to arrest him.

We think that we could hide in the dark but sometimes, it's in darkness that our true identity is revealed.