The Master Thief - Part 1

 There once was a farmer who had three sons.

The farmer's cottage was right next to the governor of the place. The farmer was very poor and all the farmer had was the cottage with some goods inside it. 

When all his three sons had grown up the farmer asked the three sons to take something precious from the cottage and find a good trade for themselves and flourish in it. The farmer even offered to come with the three sons as far as he could.

Soon the farmer and his three sons reached where a road split into three paths. There the farmer bade farewell to his three sons and went back to his cottage.

The third song had taken a lovely boot with a silver buckle from his father's cottage and he went on the third path on his adventures.

Unfortunately in the evening there was a violent thunderstorm with heavy rains on the third path which led to a deep forest.

 The third son had no choice but to take shelter in a large lonely home in the forest.

There was an old lady in the house. She kept the fire in the house burning so that the entire house was warm compared to the violent weather outside. 

The third son requested the old woman to let him stay in the house.

The old woman however flatly shook her head. "This house belongs to a den of robbers. They will kill you if they find you here. They kidnapped me when I was very young. Since then I have been looking after their home and cooking for them. That is why I stay here.”

The third son thought that out. "I cannot go out in this weather. I will stay in one of the rooms. I will take care in case anything happens because of the thieves."

The thieves came back and they were stunned to find the third son there. The thieves realized that they had to kill the boy to keep their secret hideout from being known to the rest of the world.

That was when the third son sprang to action. "I have left my father's home with my father's blessings and he wanted me to pursue any occupation of my choice." The third son looked eagerly at the thieves. "I can stay here and be your man-servant and learn the tricks of the trade from you."

The thieves were surprised. "You want to be a thief?"

"I can if you let me."

One of the thieves came forward with a smirk. "In that case you have to do something for us before we train you." 

The third son looked inquiringly as the thief continued. "There is a poor farmer who has a wife. The farmer's wife is a shrew. The farmer wants to sell one of three oxen. That man is taking the ox with him to the market today. If you steal that ox from the farmer without the farmer being aware of it we will consider having you here as a servant."

The third son readily agreed.

The farmer was going across to the market pulling his ox with a strong rope. 

At that time he saw a beautiful single shoe with a lovely buckle lying on the road. He realised that there was only one shoe and it was very useless for him to have only one shoe and he left it there.

As soon as the third son saw that the farmer longed for the single shoe with the buckle but left the shoe alone because it did not have a pair, he immediately set about to work.

The farmer dragged his ox and walked for some more time when he saw another shoe on his path.

Naturally the farmer had the desire to get both the shoes. He tied the ox to a tree nearby and picked up this shoe and walked back. 

The third son automatically led the oxen to the den of robbers.

The thieves were naturally surprised to see the third son successful in his task. It so happened that the thieves next asked the third son to steal the second ox of the farmer.

This time the third son picked up a strong rope and went to the path that the farmer was taking to sell his second ox in the market.

The third son hung himself from a tree on the path that the farmer was to take. 

The farmers saw the hung man and was shocked and dragged his ox and walked faster away from the place.

The third son got down and ran faster ahead of the farmer and hung himself up from another tree ahead.

This happened for the third time. 

The farmer by this time was convinced that evil witchcraft was at play. 

When he saw the third body hanging down from the tree the terrified farmer decided to go and check on the other two bodies. 

He tied the ox to a tree and walked back. 

The third son naturally led the second ox to the den of robbers.

The stunned robbers increased the stakes this time. They asked the third son to steal the third ox of the farmer and if the third son was successful he could become the chief of all the robbers. He could become a master thief.

This time the third son went into the woods near the path that the farmer was going to take and bellowed loudly like an ox.

The sad farmer believed that this sound came from one of the two oxen that had been stolen from him. 

The farmer decided to find his stolen ox and tied his third ox to the tree and ran deep inside.

Naturally the inevitable happened. The third son led the third ox into the den of robbers.

The robbers were however unhappy with this. They realized that they would have to make this young boy their leader because they had agreed to it. 

The third son was a very smart person. He naturally realized that the robbers were angry with him and they could injure or even kill him. 

So when the robbers were out of the home the next morning, the first thing he did was drive all the three oxen back to the farmer from whom he had stolen it. 

After that he took all the valuables in the house of the thieves. He asked the old woman to greet the robbers on his behalf and he left the den of thieves and never turned back.

Adapted from a Norwegian Folk tale