The Thief Who Wept, Then Laughed

A condemned robber, at the very moment of his death, weeps and then laughs. What do the tears mean, and what the laughter?

A skilled robber is caught and sentenced to die. A merchant's daughter who had refused kings falls in love with him on sight and comes to die at his side, her father having offered his whole fortune to save him. On the stake, the thief weeps for a moment, then laughs a little, then dies. Why? You judge first, then the king does.

The Burning Ground

The corpse was in the tree again, and again the king climbed to fetch it. He had stopped being surprised by this. He cut it loose, bound it, swung it onto his shoulder, and set off once more across the cold grey ash. The Vetala settled behind his ear like an old companion and, in no hurry at all, began.

The Thief on the Stake

In the city of Ayodhya there was a merchant named Ratnadatta, first among the traders of the city, and he had a daughter named Ratnavati who was as lovely as her name, which means she who is jewelled. Kings and princes had asked for her hand, and she had refused them all.

In that same city, someone had been robbing the houses of the rich, night after night, and no guard could catch him. At last King Viraketu went out himself in the dark to hunt the thief down. He found him, fought him, and after a long struggle took him alive, for the man was a warrior as much as a robber. The king ordered that at dawn he be led out and bound upon the stake to die.

In the morning the thief was carried through the streets to the execution ground. And it was there, as he passed, that Ratnavati saw him. She had turned away kings, and now, looking at a condemned robber on his way to death, she felt her whole heart go out to him. She went to her father and said: this man, and no other, is the one I will marry. Ransom him.

Ratnadatta was a merchant, and he did what a merchant could. He went to King Viraketu and offered his entire fortune for the thief's life. But the man had robbed on so vast a scale that the king would not sell his justice, and he refused.