“She is a liar, Sir. I was the one bathing in the river. He is my only child.

She came there, picked him up and ran. Luckily I could catch her,” said the other woman.

Villagers who were watching this drama did not know whom to believe.

The wise man got up. Using a twig, he drew a line on the ground.

He asked the two women to stand on either side of the line, and placed the child in the middle.

As instructed by the wise man, one woman held the child’s left hand and the other, his right hand.

“Now listen to me carefully,” said the wise man, “Both of you need to pull the child to your side.

The child belongs to whoever drags him over to her side.”

The woman in red sari pulled the child hard with all her might. As the child cried in pain, the other woman, let him go.

“He is mine,” the woman in the red sari shouted in triumph, even as the other woman broke down in tears.