Latest / Sandman Stories Presents / EP 320: Bengal- The Adventures of Two Thieves and of Their Sons part 2 (Day)

Transcript

EP 320: Bengal- The Adventures of Two Thieves and of Their Sons part 2 (Day) · Sandman Stories Presents

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  Welcome back, listeners to Sam Mann Stories Presents, a
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  folklore podcast where I read you to sleep or until the next
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  story. I'm your host Dustin, and if you
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  want more Sandman, you can hear all the tales that are too spicy
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  for the main feed for as little as no money per month.
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  It's all on the Patreon. And today we are continuing the
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  story from Lalbahari Day about the two thieves.
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  If you remember in Part 1, they go to great lengths to avoid
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  spending any money. Now we're going to see what the
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  next generation does. And trigger warning, the thief
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  does a bit of killing, so it caught me by surprise as well.
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  OK, let's continue the adventures of the two thieves
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  and of their sons. Part 2.
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  The older thief and the younger thief had one son each.
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  As they have been successful in life by practicing the art of
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  thieving, they resolved to train their sons in the same
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  profession. In the village there was a
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  professor of the science of roguery, who took on pupils and
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  gave them lessons in that difficult science.
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  The two thieves enrolled their sons under this renowned
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  professor. The son of the older thief
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  distinguished himself very much, and surpassed his father in the
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  art of stealing. The lad's cleverness was tested
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  in the following manner. Not far from the professor's
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  house there lived a poor man in a Hut, upon the thatch of which
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  climbed a creeper of the gourd kind.
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  In the middle of the thatch, which was also the topmost part,
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  there was a splendid gourd, which the man and his wife
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  watched all day and night. They certainly slept at night,
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  but then the thatch was so old and rickety that even if a mouse
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  went up into it, bits of straw and dirt used to fall inside the
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  Hut. The man and his wife slept right
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  below the spot where the gourd was, so that it was next to
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  impossible to steal the gourd without their knowing.
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  The professor said to his pupils, for which he had many,
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  that anyone who stole the gourd without being caught would be
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  pronounced the ducks of the school.
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  The older thief's son immediately accepted the offer.
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  He said that he would steal the gourd if you were allowed to use
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  three things, namely a string, a cat and a knife.
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  The professor allowed him to use these three things.
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  Two or three hours after nightfall, the lad sat behind
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  the thatch under the eaves, listening the conversation of
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  the man and his wife lying in bed inside the Hut.
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  In a short time the conversation ceased.
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  The lad concluded that they both must have fallen asleep.
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  He waited 1/2 an hour longer and hearing no sounds inside, gently
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  climbed up into the thatch. Chips of straw and particles of
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  earth fell upon the couple sleeping inside.
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  The woman woke up and waking her husband said, look, someone is
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  stealing our gourd. That moment the lad squeezed the
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  tail of the cat, and the puss immediately gave out her usual
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  mew, mew, mew, the husband said. Don't you hear the cat mewing?
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  There is no thief, it is only a cat.
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  The lad in the meantime, cut the gourd from the plant with his
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  knife, and tied the string which he had with him to its stalk.
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  But how was he to get down without being caught, especially
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  now that the man and the woman were now awake?
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  The woman was not convinced that it was only a cat.
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  The shaking of the thatch, and the constant falling of the bits
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  and straw of particles of dust, made her think that it was a
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  human being that was upon the thatch.
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  She was telling her husband to go out and see whether or not a
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  man was there, but he maintained that it was only a cat.
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  While the man and woman were thus disputing with each other,
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  the lad, with great force threw down the cat upon the ground, on
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  which the poor animal purred most vociferously, and the man
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  said aloud to his wife. There it is, you are now
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  convinced that it was only a cat.
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  In the meantime, during the confusion created by the clamour
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  of the cat and the loud talk of the man, the lad quietly came
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  down from the thatch with the gourd tied to a string.
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  The next morning the lad showed the gourd to his teacher, and
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  described the manner in which he had committed the theft.
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  The professor was in ecstasy and remarked the worthy son of a
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  worthy father. But the older thief, the father
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  of our hopeful genius, was by no means satisfied that his son was
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  yet fit to enter the world. He wanted to prove him still
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  further. Addressing his son, he said, My
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  son, if you can do what I tell you, I'll think you fit to enter
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  the world. If you can steal the gold chain
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  of the queen of this country from her neck and bring it to
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  me, I'll think you are fit to enter the world.
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  The gifted son readily agreed to do the daring deed.
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  The young thief, for that's what we will call the son of the
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  older thief, now, made a reconnaissance of the palace
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  where the king and queen lived. He observed all four gates and
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  all the outer and inner walls as far as he could.
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  He gathered a good deal of information from the
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  neighborhood regarding the habits of the king and queen,
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  where they slept, what guards there were, and who, if anyone,
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  slept in the antechamber. Armed with all this knowledge,
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  the young thief picked a Dark Knight for doing the daring
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  deed. He took a sword, a hammer and
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  some large nails and put on very dark clothes.
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  With tools in hand, he went prowling about the lion gate of
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  the palace. Before the Zanana could be
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  reached, 4 doors, including the lion gate, had to be passed, and
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  each of these doors had a guard of 16 stalwart men.
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  The same men, however, did not remain at their post all night,
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  as the king had an infinite number of soldiers at his
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  command. Guards at the doors were
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  relieved every hour, once every hour.
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  At each door there were 32 men present, consisting of the
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  relieving party and of the relieved.
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  The young thief chose that particular time to enter each of
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  the four doors. At 8:00, when he saw the lion
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  gate crowded with 32 men, he joined the crowd without being
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  noticed. He spent the next hour in the
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  large open space between the two doors.
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  He wasn't noticed because the night and his clothes were pitch
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  dark. He passed the second door in the
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  same way, and then the third door, and then the fourth door.
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  Now the Queen's bed chambers stared him in the face.
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  It was in the third loft, and there was a bright light in it,
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  and a low voice talking. The young thief thought that the
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  voice must be that of a maid servant reciting a story, as was
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  custom in the palace for getting the Royals to sleep.
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  But how to get up into the third loft?
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  The inner doors were all closed, and there were guards
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  everywhere, but the young thief had with him nails in a hammer.
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  Why not drive the nails into the wall and climb up by them?
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  True, but the driving of the nails into the wall would make a
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  great noise, which would rouse the guards and possibly the king
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  and queen. At any rate, the maid reciting
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  the stories would give alarm. Our erratic genius had
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  considered that matter well before starting the work.
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  There is a water clock in the palace which tells the time, and
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  at the end of each hour a very large gong is struck.
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  The sound of it is so loud that is heard all over the palace and
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  over most parts of the city. This clock had a feature which
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  was that one minute after the first stroke was made, the
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  second stroke could be made allowing the gong to finish its
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  sound. The thief chose the minutes when
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  the gong was struck for driving nails into the wall.
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  At 10:00, when the gong was struck 10 times, the thief found
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  it easy to drive 10 nails into the wall.
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  When the gong stopped, the thief also stopped and stood quietly
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  on the 9th nail, catching hold of the 10th.
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  At 11:00 he drove into the wall 11 nails and got a little higher
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  than the second story, and by 12:00 he was in the loft where
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  the royal bedchamber was peeping in.
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  He saw a maid drowsily reciting a story and the king and queen
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  fast asleep. He snuck up behind the maid and
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  took a seat. The queen was laying down on a
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  richly furnished bed of gold beside the king.
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  The massive gold chain around the Queen's neck was shining in
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  the candlelight. The thief quietly listened to
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  the story of the drowsy maid. She was becoming more and more
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  sleepy. She stopped for a second, nodded
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  her head, and again resumed the story.
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  It was plain to see that she was tired.
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  In a moment the thief cut off the head of the maid and went on
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  reciting the story which the woman was telling.
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  The king and queen were unconscious of any change in the
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  storyteller, for they were in a deep sleep.
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  He stripped the murdered woman of her clothes, put them on
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  himself, tied his own clothes up in a bundle, and, walking
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  softly, gently took off the chain from the neck of the
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  queen. Then he went downstairs and
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  ordered the guard to open the door.
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  The guards, seeing that it was the Queen's maid, readily
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  allowed her out in the same manner and with the same
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  pretext. He got through the other doors
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  and at last was out onto the street.
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  That very night, or rather morning, the young thief put on
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  to his father's hand the gold chain of the Queen.
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  The older thief could scarcely believe his own eyes.
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  It was like a dream. His joy knew no bounds.
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  Addressing his son, he said. Well done, my son.
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  You are not only as clever as your father, but you have beaten
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  me hollow. May the gods give you a long
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  life, my son. The next morning, when the king
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  and Queen got up from bed, they were shocked to see the maid
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  servant lying in a pool of blood.
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  The Queen also found that a gold chain was not around her neck.
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  They couldn't make out how this could have all taken place.
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  How could any thief manage to elude the vigilance of so many
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  guards? How could he get into the
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  Queen's bed chamber? How could he get out again?
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  The king heard reports from the guards that a person calling
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  herself the Royal Maid had gone out of the palace some hours
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  before dawn. All sorts of inquiries were
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  made, but in vain. Proclamation was made in the
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  city. A large reward was offered to
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  anyone who could give information for the apprehension
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  of the thief and murderer, but no one responded to the call.
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  At last the king ordered a camel to be brought to him.
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  On the back of that animal was placed two large bags filled
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  with gold coins. The man taking charge of the
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  bags upon the camel was ordered to go through every part of the
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  city, making the following challenge.
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  As the thief was daring enough to steal a gold chain from the
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  neck of the queen, let him further show his daring by
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  stealing the gold coins from the back of this camel.
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  For two days and nights the camel paraded through the city,
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  but nothing happened. On the third night, as the camel
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  driver was going on his rounds, he was accosted by a sannyasi
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  who sat on a Tiger's skin before a fire, and near whom was a
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  monstrous pair of tongs. This sannyasi was no other than
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  the young thief in disguise. The sannyasi said to the camel
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  driver, Brother, why are you going through the city in this
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  manner? Who is there so daring as to
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  seal from the back of the King's camel?
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  Come down, friend, and smoke with me.
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  The camel driver got down, tied the camel to a tree and began
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  smoking. The medicants supplied him not
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  only with tobacco, but with ganja and other intoxicating
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  drugs, so that in a short time the camel driver became quite
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  intoxicated and fell asleep. The young thief LED away the
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  camel with the treasures on his back, in the dead of the night,
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  through narrow lanes and alleys to his own house.
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  That very night the camel was killed and it's carcass was
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  buried deep in the pits of the earth, and the thing was done so
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  that no one could discover any trace of it.
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  The next morning, when the king heard that the camel driver was
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  lying drunk in the street and that the camel had been taken
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  away along with the treasure, he was almost beside himself with
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  anger. A proclamation was made in the
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  city to the effect that whoever caught the thief would get a
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  reward of a lock of rupees. The son of the younger thief,
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  who by the way, was in the same school of roguery as the son of
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  the older thief, though he did not distinguish himself so much,
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  now, came to the front and said that he would apprehend the
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  thief. He suspected that the son of the
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  older thief must have done it, for who was as daring and clever
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  as he. In the evening of the following
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  day the younger thief disguised himself as a woman, and coming
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  to that part of the town where the young thief lived, began to
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  weep very much, and went from door to door saying, Oh, sirs,
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  can any of you give me a bit of camel's flesh?
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  For my son is dying, and the doctors say nothing but eating
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  camel's meat can save his life. Oh, for pity's sake, do give me
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  a bit of camel meat. At last he went to the House of
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  the young thief and begged the wife, for the young thief
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  himself was out to tell him where he could get hold of camel
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  meat, as his son would surely perish if it could not be had.
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  Saying this, he pierced the air with his cries, and fell down at
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  the feet of the young thief's wife.
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  Woman as she was, though the wife of a thief, she felt pity
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  for the supposed woman, and said, Wait, and I will try and
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  get some camel's flesh for your son.
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  So saying, she secretly went to the spot where the dead camel
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  had been buried, cut off a small bit of flesh, and gave it to the
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  party. The son of the younger thief was
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  now entranced with joy. He went and told the king that
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  he had succeeded in tracing the thief, and he would be ready to
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  deliver him up that night, if the king would set some
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  constables with him. At night the older thief and his
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  son were captured, and the body of the camel dugout and all the
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  treasures of the house seized. The following morning the king
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  sat in judgement. The son of the older thief
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  confessed that he had stolen the Queen's gold chain, killed the
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  maidservant, and had taken away the camel.
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  But he added that the person who had found him and his father,
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  the younger thief, were also thieves and murderers, of which
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  he gave undoubted proofs. As the king had promised to give
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  a lock of rupees to the detective, that sum was placed
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  before the son of the younger thief.
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  But soon after he ordered 4 pits to be dug in the earth, in which
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  were buried alive with all sorts of thorns and thistles.
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  The older thief and the younger thief and their two sons.
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  Here my story endeth, the Nadia, thorn, withereth, etcetera.
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  The end. Wow, I was not expecting for the
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  maid to be OFT. That kind of shocked me and I
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  did like how crafty the older thief was but also that poor
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  maid. I also like how the king did
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  reward the younger son's thief but then at the same time
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  punished him for being a thief as well.
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  And I'm glad to see the story told out.
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  There are about 9 stories left in this book, after which I will
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  look for another, but that won't be until 2027 or so.
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  And the podcast shout out is to Reddit on Wiki.
• 16:33
  John, Josh and Sean are good guys, making them a rare
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  commodity in podcasting. They host agony Ant stories,
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  play games, and they even have a lovely live show in Toronto that
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  I treated myself to. You should really go listen to
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  the fellows. They're well worth it.
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  And the listener shout out is to Kamasi, Ghana, located in what
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  was once the Asante Empire. Kumasi is the second largest
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  city in Ghana. And if I go there, I would love
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  to spend a few hours touring the Kumasi Central Market.
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  And so I say and tweet to my listener, Kumasi meda MO asse na
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  Ana do Pennsylvania. Thank you and good night.