There was an old Arab judge who was known for his sagacity. One day a shopkeeper came to him to complain that goods from his shop were being stolen but he was unable to catch the thief. The judge commanded the door of the shop to be taken off its hinges, carried to the market-place and given fifty lashes because it had failed to do its duty of keeping the thief out of the store. A large crowd collected to see this strange sentence being carried out. When the lashes had been administered, the judge stooped and asked the door who the thief was. Then he applied his ear to the door, the better to hear what it had to say. When he stood up he announced. “The door declares that the burglaries have been committed by a man who has a cobweb on the top of his turban.” Instantly the hand of the one man in the crowd went up to his turban. His house was searched and the stolen goods recovered. 🙂 All it takes is a word of flattery or criticism to uncover the ego.