The Boy and the Thief
Long ago, beside an old forest with cool waters, there was a deep, deep stone well. As the golden light of the sun filtered through the leaves, a child was weeping bitterly at the mouth of the well. The child's tears ran down his cheeks and dripped onto the mossy stones at the edge of the well. Just then a cunning thief passing along the road heard this weeping and turned his steps that way. Slipping in behind the bushes, the thief watched the child's helpless state for a while with sly eyes. The greedy man came up to the innocent-looking child and asked in his hoarse voice why he was crying. Between sobs the little child began, "What else can I do but cry, uncle?"
"I dropped the golden ewer, my family's only treasure, into the well; how can I go home now?" he said. At the words "golden ewer" the thief's eyes glittered with greed and a great appetite filled him. He thought to himself that he could trick this poor child and take the gold for himself with ease. Putting on a charitable smile, he said, "Do not cry, my child, I will help you." Losing no time, the thief took off the heavy cloak of costly cloth he wore, and his clothes as well. After laying his garments carefully at the edge of the well, he took hold of the rope-wound pulley. In his longing to find the golden ewer his eyes saw nothing, and he climbed impatiently down into the dark well.
When the thief reached the bottom, he began to search eagerly for the precious ewer in the icy water. But at the bottom of the well there was nothing but mud and worthless pebbles. Meanwhile the clever child quickly gathered up the expensive clothes the thief had left at the edge of the well. Hearing the rustling that came from above, the thief understood that he had been tricked, but it was far too late. The clever child took the clothes in his arms and vanished with quick steps into the depths of the forest. The cunning thief, for his part, was left all alone at the bottom of the cold well with the regret of his mistake. Those who set traps for others can never escape falling into the pit they dug themselves. The hunter often becomes the hunted.