The Foolish Thief

A young man named Apang lived in a village. He was very foolish and useless. His mother used to scold him all the time for his foolishness. But it did not even fall on his ears.

One night at about two oclock Apang heard some people whispering amongst themselves. He got up from the bed and came out of the house, and saw two people going. He started following them secretly. Seeing the opportunity, he caught the hand of a man and asked- Where are you going at this time of the night

The man replied nervously- To steal. Will you also come with me Whatever we get, we will share it amongst ourselves.

Apang did not know anything about stealing, yet he thought that if he gets something from this act, his mother will definitely be happy. Mother will not scold him any more. Thinking this, he immediately agreed.

After walking some distance, a big building was seen. Thinking it to be a rich mans house, the three decided to break in. All of them together started breaking the wall from the back of the house. Apang quickly completed his part of the work. In a short while, a hole was made in the wall. Through it, all three entered the house. Two thieves started collecting things from all around the house. Apang thought that his mother wanted brass utensils. So he entered the kitchen and started picking up brass utensils. He was overjoyed to find the desired utensils. He started banging the utensils in excitement. The utensils started making noise. The silence of the night was broken. Seeing the situation turning unfavourable, the two thieves fled from there. The owner of the house and the neighbours caught Apang and repaired him properly. His bones and ribs were broken.

Due to this beating, Apang remained bedridden for many days. His neighbours stopped talking to him. His mother stopped giving him food and water. Apang held his ears in front of his mother and swore in the name of God that he would never commit such a mistake again.

After recovering, Apangs restless mind did not feel like staying at home. He wanted to look for some work. On a dark night of Amavasya, he saw some people passing by the road in front of his house. He immediately got up and went to them. He saw that they were the same thieves as before. He said to them- Hey friend, where are you people going

The thieves told Apang to avoid them- Nowhere, we are just strolling.

When Apang asked them to come with him, both of them reminded him of the earlier incident that how they had got into trouble due to his foolishness. Apang apologized to them. He forgot the promise he had made to his mother. He started walking with the thieves. After walking some distance, he saw a rich mans house. The three secretly entered the house by making a hole in the wall.

The two thieves started searching for valuables inside the house. When Apang went inside a room, he saw an old woman sleeping. Her mouth was open. Apang felt that she was hungry. He went to the kitchen groping in the darkness. He saw a pot on the stove. There was hot kheer inside it. He brought hot kheer and put it in the old womans mouth. The kheer was so hot that the old woman could not bear it and died instantly. Her mouth was wide open. Apang thought that she was laughing happily. He liked laughing people. So he started calling his friends to see this scene while singing-

Amar baite aheiri

Manjarar tale maneiri

Bahajarar tale baheiri

Haabi khirou kheri chei chei chei

Meaning- Our grandmother is laughing. She sleeps under the Man tree. She sits under the bamboo, she even eats kheer. Look, look

His companions sensed the seriousness of the situation. They ran away from there with their tails between their legs before the master woke up. The master and the people of the neighbourhood caught Apang. First they thrashed him a lot. After that a Panchayat was held. The Panchayat sentenced him to life imprisonment.