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The Thief and Kali

Once a long time ago there was a thief. His father had trained him to be a thief. He was a really good thief because he listened to everything his father taught him about stealing. One thing his father told him was this: "Never listen to anything a saint says. Don't even listen to a single word out of the mouth of a saint. If you hear what saints say, you will not be able to be a thief." He was the best thief around.

One time he was walking down the street and he happened to hear someone talking. They said, "Angels, gods and goddesses do not leave a shadow on the earth" -before he heard anything else, the thief realized it was a saint talking, so he closed his ears and ran away. That was the only thing he ever heard a saint say.

Because he was such a good thief he started to get bored stealing the normal things. He decided he wanted to steal the biggest loot there is, the Kings royal treasure. That he did, and after he stole the royal treasure he buried it so no one would find out. The King sent his police to find who had stolen the treasure, the first person they thought of was this thief. They did everything they could to make him confess but he continued to lie and say he was innocent.

The police chief had an idea though. He found a woman and dressed her up as the goddess Kali. The thief usually would offer a portion of his loot to the goddess. She came behind his house at night by the light of the moon and said in a mighty voice, "I am your goddess Kali. You have not given me my offering. How dare you steal the royal treasure and not offer me any." The thief was almost convinced that it really was the goddess and he feared what would happen if he didn't reveal where the treasure was. Right before he confessed the truth to the fake goddess, he remembered something. He remembered what the saint had said. He noticed that this woman did indeed have a shadow. It couldn't be the goddess! She was a fake! The thief continued to deny that he had stolen anything.

The thief realized that he was only seconds away from admitting the truth. If he had done that the police would have caught him and they might have killed him for punishment. It was only because he heard a saint say one sentence that his life was saved. He decided to listen to saints more often. His father was right, it ruined his stealing career. He became a devoted and generous man. Saints have that power that their words can change someone from being a thief to an honest man.

Storyteller:  Harijot Singh Khalsa
Topics:  Adventure, Fun, Life Lessons
Age ranges:  13 - 17, 18 and over, 7 - 12