The thief's protector

Once a thief was being chased by two policemen. They were running after him but they could not catch him. Finally, the thief entered into a house and asked the owner for protection. He told the owner, “I have lots of money. I will give you half if you save me.”

The owner said, “Definitely I will save you, but you have to keep your promise.”

It was evening, and the policemen had been two hundred metres behind the thief, so they did not see where he had gone. When they came to the house where the thief was hiding, they asked the owner, “Did you see a thief come in here?”

The man immediately said, “Where? On which side of the street did he come?” Then he started screaming loudly, “Thief! Thief!” The neighbours came out and joined the police in looking for him around the neighbourhood. The thief was not to be found anywhere, so the police were about to leave.

The owner of the house said, “I feel that one day the culprit will be caught. In God’s creation if anybody does anything wrong, he will be caught. How I hate thieves. We work so hard to earn money. With greatest difficulty we earn money and then thieves come and steal it. Of all crimes I hate theft the most.”

Then everyone went home, including the policemen. The man went back into his home and told the thief: “Look, everybody has gone away. I joined the party looking for the thief and I played my role most successfully. Now you have to give me half of the money you have.”

The thief said, “A new idea has entered into my brain. From now on, I will never tell a lie or have anything to do with anybody who tells lies. I hate to see people telling lies. From now on if I see anyone telling lies, I will punish that person. Now, you are the first person I have seen telling lies.”

The man said, “What? I have saved you!”

The thief said, “Yes, you told those people that you did not see me. You protected me, but you told them a lie. So you are the first person I have seen telling lies.” Then the thief took out his revolver and said, “Now I am going to kill you.”

The man started crying and the thief said, “Either allow me to kill you or let me leave your place peacefully.”

The owner said, “Go away peacefully. I don’t need your money. Please, just go.”