There was a man who was said to be able to guess anything. In fact, many people came to him every day to ask him about the most diverse topics.
One morning, the king's son, feeling envy of that man, wanted to show him in front of everyone.
His idea was to take a small bird, hide it in his hands and ask him what it was carrying. If he guessed it was a bird, then he would ask if he was dead or alive. If he said he was dead, he would let him fly; and if he said he was alive, then he would squeeze his neck with his hands and kill him.
-Wise! He yelled at him in front of everyone. "You are said to be able to guess anything, let's see if you can find out what I have in my hands."
There was silence and the sage, without hesitation, said:
"In your hands you have a bird."
"Okay, but is that bird dead or alive?"
Silence fell again.
"Prince, that bird's fate is in your hands."
Everyone applauded the sage, for they realized the trap the prince had tried to set him. He left there totally embarrassed and with the intention of telling his father what had happened.
The king, knowing that the wise man had made a fool of his son, ordered him to be locked up.
He intended to execute it, but his advisers told him that this could generate a revolution, because the people would not understand it, unless he demonstrated that the sage, in fact, was an impostor.
So they set him up: they thought of giving him a choice between two roles. If he got the innocent one, he would be saved, but if he got the guilty one, it would be shown that he was a liar and deserved to die.
The trick was that in both roles he said the same thing: guilty.
The day came and, before all his people, the king said:
"Wise, I'm going to give you a choice between two roles, one innocent and the other guilty, if you really are a fortune teller, you will know which one to take to save your life."
The king left the two papers on a table and the sage was thinking for a few minutes. But suddenly he took one of them, put it in his mouth, and swallowed it.
To everyone's amazement, the king shouted:
"But what have you done, stupid!" Now we will not know which role you have chosen.
—Yes, of course yes, just look at what it puts in the one that is still on the table and you will know which one I have chosen.