What did the thief steal?

Once a thief stole a bag of corn from a farmer’s house. The farmer went to the judge and told him about this. The judge ordered all the people of the farm to come before him. He took many sticks of equal length and gave one stick to each man.
    He then said, "Come before me again tomorrow. I shall know which of you is the thief because the thief’s stick will be one inch longer than any of the others. "The thief was afraid of the judge’s words, and so cut an inch off his stick.
    The next day, people saw the thief’s stick was one inch shorter than any of the others. In this way the thief was found out, and was at once taken to prison.