Legal troubles in England reminded Mirza Abu Taleb Khan of the tale of a woman in Calcutta, summoned to court to give evidence. The judge interrupted her testimony concerning events on a veranda with a question about the number of its pillars. The women estimated four, only for a barrister to declare her entire testimony worthless, since there were five.

The witness turned and asked the judge how many steps there were up to his bench. When he could not answer, she protested that if he did not have perfect knowledge of his own courtroom she could not be expected to have perfect knowledge of someone else’s veranda, and the judge (not ill-pleased by this banter) ruled in her favour.

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