The host poured the tea into the cup and placed it on the small table in front of his guests, who were a father and daughter, and the cover on the cup. Apparently thinking of something, he hurried into the inner room, leaving the thermos  on the table. His two guests heard a cupboard opening. They remained sitting in the sitting room, the ten-year-old daughter looking at the flowers outside the window, the father just about to take his cup, when the crash came, right there in the sitting room. Something was hopelessly broken. It was the thermos, which had fallen to the floor. The girl looked over her shoulder, shocked, staring. It was mysterious. Neither of them touched it, not even a bit. True, it hadn't stood steadily when their host placed in on the table, but it hadn't fallen then. The explosion caused the host to rush back. _ the steaming floor, the host said, "It doesn't matter! It doesn't matter!" The father started to say something. Then he said softly, "Sorry, I touched it and it fell." "It doesn't matter," said the host. When they left the house, the daughter said, "Daddy, did you touch it?" "No, but it stood so close to me." "But you did not touch it. I saw your reflection in the window glass." The father laughed. "What would you give as the cause of its fall?" "The thermos fell by itself. The floor is not smooth. Daddy, why did you say that you..." "That won't do, girl. It sounds more acceptable when I say I knocked it down. There are things which people accept less the more you defend. The truer the story you tell, the less true it sounds." The daughter was lost in silence for a while. Then she said, "Can you explain it only in this way?" "Only in this way," her father said. Which statement is a possible theme of this story?
People should take the blame for what they didn't do. People rarely tell the truth. If you defend yourself, people will believe you. You can't always make people believe the truth.