Once upon a time there lived a king. He hired four guards to maintain order in the city. One day a townsman came to the palace and began to complain to the king that he had been robbed on the street at night. The king called his guards and asked:
— Did you see thieves at night?
“No, we didn’t see it,” the guards answer. The king got angry and ordered them to be hanged. The next night he decided to see for himself what was happening in the city. He changed into the clothes of a commoner and went to wander the streets. He sees four strangers coming towards him.
-Who are you? - asks the king.
“We are thieves,” they answer. “And who are you?”
“I am also a thief,” says the king.
The thieves consulted and decided to take a fifth into their company. On the way, the king asks them:
-Have you ever robbed in this city?
“They robbed,” they answer.
- Has anyone seen you?
- Nobody.
“And the guards didn’t see it either?”
- No, we didn’t see it. Each of us has some special gift, so the guards cannot detect us.
The king was surprised and asked:
- What is your secret?
“If I go up to the guard and cough, he will go blind,” answered one of the thieves.
“As soon as I approach the door and touch it with my hand, it opens by itself,” said the second.
“But I understand the language of dogs and jackals,” said the third.
“As for me,” said the fourth, “as soon as I see a person even once, even on the darkest night, I can already recognize him during the day among hundreds of other people.”
The thieves told their secret and said to the king:
- To become a real thief, you must also have some kind of gift.
“Well,” the newcomer answers, “I also have a gift: if my friends fall into the hands of the king and are taken to be hanged, as soon as I nod my head, they will be immediately released.”
The thieves liked the newcomer’s abilities and finally accepted him into their company. And then they consulted and decided to start their own business.
“I know where the king hides the gold, let’s steal his treasures,” said the fifth thief.
That's what we decided. They approached the palace and said to the first thief:
- Well, cough.
He coughed and the guards went blind.
“Now it’s your turn,” the thieves say to the second, “open the door.”
He put his hand on the door and before he could say the spell, it opened. And suddenly the jackal howled and the dog barked.
“What are the jackal and the dog talking about?” the thieves ask the third.
“The jackal shouted to the dog,” he answers, “that thieves were breaking into the palace.” But she does not bark and says: “Why should I bark if the king himself is interfering with the palace.”
The thieves cursed their comrade:
- You have no gift. Can a king steal from himself?
Thieves stole two boxes of jewelry from the palace and hid them in a secluded place.
- Morning is coming. Go to the fakir's hut, and I'll go to mine. “We will gather here at night and divide the gold,” said the king.
The thieves agreed with him and went to the fakir. And the king hurried to the palace, announced the theft and ordered new guards to seize the kidnappers.
The guards captured the thieves in the fakir's hut and brought them to the king. He ordered everyone to be hanged. And then he thought and said:
“If they talk about anything among themselves, bring them to me again.”
They led the thieves to the gallows, and one of them said to the other:
“You boasted: once you see a person even on a dark night, you can easily recognize him during the day.”
“I found out that last night our companion was the king,” he answered.
The guards brought the thieves back to the king and told them what they were talking about.
The king listened to the guard and said:
“I promised these friends that I would be able to free them from the gallows, and I will fulfill my promise.”
The king nodded his head, and the thieves were immediately released. The king ordered to give them a box of gold, made them promise never to steal again and sent them home.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru