The Master Thief - Part 2

The Master Thief went back home with all the riches that he had stolen from the thieves.

His father could barely recognise his third son with all the rich clothes that he was wearing.

But then finally the third son asked his father to go and talk to the governor who lived right next to them. The Master Thief wanted to marry the beautiful daughter of the governor. 

The father was shocked at the request of his son. But he had no other way. 

When he reached the governor's home the father told the governor. "My son wants to marry your daughter. He has plenty of riches and so he has sent me to ask you for this."

The governor saw the small house right next to his huge house and had a sudden idea. 

"I would completely agree to marry my daughter to your son. But you say that your son is a Master Thief. He has to prove himself. He has to steal the joint of the spit from the kitchen of my house. If he does so I will marry my daughter to him."

The father went back to his home and told the son everything. The very next day the son went to the woods and found three hares from the woods and brought them back. 

Right in the morning when everybody was busy the Master Thief let loose the first hare inside the governor's house.

Everyone saw the hare but no one ran after it. The hare ran the full length of the governor's house and ran into the woods. The son then released the second hare. This time the people and the governor himself were curious about the hair running around but they did not do anything. The second hare too ran back into the woods. 

It was at this time that the Master Thief released the third hare.

Unable to stop himself, the governor ordered his people to catch the hare.

So all the people in the governor's house ran after the hair and the Master Thief was easily able to steal the joint from the spit of the unattended kitchen.

When the priest of the place learnt about the governor's loss, the priest made fun of the governor. 

Then the governor asked the Master Thief to play a prank on the priest so that the priest did not make fun of the governor. 

At this time the Master Thief disguised himself as angel and convinced the priest that he had come down from the heavens. In this pretext the Master Thief dragged the priest over shrubs of thorns and finally threw the priest in the goose house telling the priest that this was purgatory.

However the governor was still not willing to let the Master Thief marry his daughter. He came up with another idea. 

The governor asked the Master Thief to steal his twelve horses from the stable. The Master Thief thought that out for some time. 

He first collected a bottle of brandy and a powerful sleeping draught. Then he paid twelve men to come to the stable without anyone knowing about it and hide there. After that the Master Thief disguised himself very skillfully as a very old woman. 

Then the Master Thief waited for the cold night to come and then went to the stable house. 

There, disguised as an old woman, the Master Thief removed a brandy bottle and made sure that the people working in the stable could see it. 

As the night became colder the people working there asked the 'old lady' for some brandy. 'She' happily gave the people there her brandy bottle which was mixed with sleeping draught. 

Soon all the people working in the stable fell asleep. 

The Master Thief removed his disguise and with the help of the twelve people who were hidden in the stable the Master Thief drove the twelve horses away from the stable.

The governor was stunned. But he still did not want the Master Thief to marry his daughter. 

So he came up with another idea. He wanted the Master Thief to steal his own horse. 

This time the Master Thief disguised himself as an old man with an old broken down cart carried by an old mare. The cart had a cask of mead which was leaking.

The governor was careful too. This time he rode on his horse and looked around. He could not find the Master Thief anywhere. All the governor saw was an old man with an old cart holding his hands on a cask of mead. 

The governor realized that he would not be able to identify the Master Thief but someone else could. 

The governor asked the old man to look around and see whether he could identify the Master Thief.

The old man unhappily shook his head. "I would like to help you. But I can't. My cask of mead is leaking. I need somebody to hold a finger at the cask so that all the mead did not leak.

Impatiently the governor told the old man that he would hold his finger to the cask and make sure that the mead did not leak. The governor even gave his horse to the old man to look around and look further into the woods to make sure that the Master Thief was not there.

Naturally the governor was stunned when he realized that the old man was no one else other than the Master Thief. 

Finally the governor had a final idea of asking the Master Thief to steal the bedsheet of his bedroom. 

This time the Master Thief went to the gallows and picked up the dead body of a thief who had been hanged the day before. The Master Thief Picked up the dead body of the thief and put it at the window of the governor's bedroom. 

The governor, thinking that this was the Master Thief shot at the dead body. 

The Master Thief who was hidden beside the body, let the body drop. 

This time however the governor was worried and decided to bury the dead body before anyone else could see it. 

The governor told his wife what he was about to do and went downstairs to look at the body. 

At this time the Master Thief disguised himself as the governor and went to the governor's wife and asked for the bed sheet to clean up the blood.

Thinking nothing amiss the governor's wife gave the Master Thief the bedsheet. 

After this the governor was afraid of what else the Master Thief would steal from him and decided to marry his daughter to him.

Adapted from a Norwegian Folk tale