Thieves Fall Out

Long ago, there was a hermit who lived in a hut outside a town. He was not greedy at all. In fact, he lived a very simple life, and did not use any luxuries at all. He even ate very little food and wore extremely simple clothes. He neglected himself so much that his hair grew long and matted too.
Seeing his poverty, a considerate friend in the town gave him a gift of two young calves. The hermit began to love the calves. He washed them and fed them lots of healthy food. The calves grew big and strong as the days went by.
One day, a thief happened to see the young calves. He was greedy and decided to steal them. He could get a lot of money by selling them! So, he took a good thick rope and set off to steal the calves.

On the way, he met a giant demon (rakshasa), who looked fierce and wild. His appearance was really frightening! So, the scared thief asked him who he was. The rakshasa introduced himself and asked the thief to introduce himself. The thief told him that he was a thief.
The two looked at each other. Both had told each other the truth about themselves. So, they felt that there was bond of honesty between them and they should trust each other.
The thief told the rakshasa that he was going to steal the two calves from the hermit. This suited the rakshasa perfectly. He said he too would come along with the thief. “You can have the calves and I will get the hermit. I am very hungry, so I will eat him. Let’s go.”
So, the two who had become friends only for a very bad purpose set off for the hermit’s house. When they reached there, they looked around and were able to find a window through which they got in. They waited quietly for a right chance to get the hermit and his calves.
After a while, they heard the sound of a gentle snoring and knew that the hermit had fallen asleep. Now the time was right! The rakshasa got up to grab the hermit. But the thief caught his hand. “Wait,” he said, “Let me first get the calves. Otherwise, the hermit will wake up and stop me from taking his calves.”

“No, no. The calves are sure to bellow. Then the hermit will wake up and I’ll lose a good dinner. Let me kill the hermit first,” argued the rakshasa.
The argument woke the hermit up. He saw what was going on. He first prayed to god which frightened the rakshasa away. Then the hermit chased the thief out with a stick!

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