So the Sultan turned to the oil merchant and said to him, "Do you hear his words? Have you any proof that the oil you found in his house came from your vat?"
So the oil merchant said, "Yes, oh Sultan, I have proof, for the oil in that vat was very old oil, three years in age, and therefore of a different colour to the oil of this year. Now no other merchant in this town has any oil of this age."
Then he brought forth the two bottles of oil, and, taking the one he had dyed, said, "Now this is oil from that same vat, and the oil found in this man's house was of the same colour."
Taking the second bottle he said, "This is oil of this year, and, as you will perceive, it is of a lighter colour."
Then the Sultan turned to the accused and said to him, "You have heard his words; what words have you to answer him with?"
Then the man fell on his face before the Sultan and said, "Oh, I repent, my master; I did take the oil, for I am a poor man and have no money, so forgive me, for I repent."
Now when the Sultan heard that the oil of three years ago was of a different colour, he bethought himself of the case of the merchant and his friend, in which the merchant had entrusted his friend with the skin of oil three years previously. So, telling the oil merchant to stand aside, he sent quickly to recall the case.
When they came before him he said to the merchant's friend, "When did you say that it was that you were given that skin of oil by the merchant?"
He answered him, "It is now three years since."
So the Sultan asked him, "Have you since then opened the skin or taken any of the oil out?"