Stamp Box and The Stamp

Once there was an official who had done so many corruptions in his office, that the emperor sent an auditor to audit him. Realizing what was going to happen, the official asked help of a thief to steal for him the auditor’s official stamp that was in the auditor’s office. The next day when the auditor was going to start his work, he found out that his stamp was missing. He was very sure that it had been stolen by the corrupt official. In response, the auditor pretended to be severely ill. Some of the officials came to visit him, a very common practice of that time.

When the corrupt official came to visit him, the auditor only talked light common matters. While they were conversing, somebody from the back corridor shouted, “Fire…! Fire…!” Hearing that, the auditor immediately took his stamp box and while being witnessed by several other important people present there, he presented it to the corrupt official and said, “Please go home and take care of this stamp box, as the stamp inside is very important.” The corrupt official left hurriedly.

Only when the corrupt official got out of the auditor’s residence, he realized that he had been trapped, but it was all too late. The next day, the auditor requested the corrupt official to return back his stamp box that was being stored by the corrupt official. In such dilemmatic position, the corrupt official had no other choice but to return the stamp box together with the original stamp. If not, it would be seen that he made lost a government stamp.

Right after the stamp got back to the rightful owner, the auditor immediately stamped the documents he had made, including the letter of mutation of the corrupt official. Not long after, the corrupt official was removed from his office.