Folk-lore of the Telugus/The Boy and the Thief
XXV.
THE BOY AND THE THIEF.
As a boy was sitting on the brink of a well crying bitterly, a thief came there, and, seeing him, asked him why he was crying. He answered that as he was playing, he looked into that well, when the pearl necklace that was on his neck slipped off and fell into the water. If he should go home without the necklace, his parents would thrash him, and on that account he was crying. The thief, thinking he would be able to steal it, said to him:—"My lad be not afraid, I will go down into the well and get the pearl necklace; do you take care of my clothes?" Having left his clothes on the bank he descended into the well, naked. As soon as he had got to the bottom, the boy took his clothes and ran away with them. The thief, having searched for a long time and not finding the necklace came up again; but not seeing the boy anywhere he exclaimed:—"Even I, who am a rogue, have been deceived by a boy."
Moral:—However clever a person thinks himself, he may be outwitted by others.