There was a Brahmin who had bought a goat and was carrying it home on his shoulders, walking along the road.
Three swindlers spotted him along the way. They hatched a plan. The first swindler walked up ahead, turned around, and said — 'Punditji, why are you carrying a dog on your shoulders?'
The Brahmin said, 'This is a goat, not a dog!' He walked on. But a tiny seed of doubt had been planted in his mind.
A little further down the road, the second swindler stopped him. 'Punditji, why would you carry a stray dog?' The Brahmin stopped. He looked at his goat. 'This is a goat,' he said — but his voice was less certain now.
The third swindler said the same thing a little further ahead. This time, the Brahmin's confidence cracked. 'Three people have said it — maybe it really is a dog!'
He set the goat down on the road and walked away. The swindlers were delighted. They took the goat for themselves.
A thing said again and again starts to feel true — even when it is not. That was the swindlers' entire scheme.