A man was telling his friends in a teahouse:
‘I lent someone a silver piece, and I have no witnesses. Now I am afraid that he will deny that he ever had anything from me.’
The friends commiserated, but a Sufi who was sitting in the corner raised his head from his knee and said:
‘Invite him here and mention in conversation, in front of these people, that you lent him twenty gold pieces.’
‘But I only lent him one silver piece!’
‘That,’ said the Sufi, ‘is exactly what he will shout out – and everyone will hear him. You did want witnesses, did you not?’

Wisdom of the Idiots
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