Slumber

SLUMBER


“These people!” muttered the man who had just woken up from his sleep.
“These people, they never allow me have a good sleep”.
Then he opened the door and said to the people standing outside, “ I have no thief in my house and if you want proof, come search my house”.
The guards on his doorstep, still not satisfied, went through his whole house thrice. Then they left. He was not a wealthy merchant, but had ample money to get himself three square meals a day .All his treasures were present in a small pot, buried in the north corner of his house. Then he went again to his cot and gave a big sigh and slumped on it. He was tired of his work; selling and buying goods and often wished to retire. He always wished that he could hibernate, to take a long, long nap, to escape the sufferings of this sinful world.

Then came a series of knocks on his door, then bangs, then kicks .
He cried out “Not again!”.
He ran to the door and opened it. “ For the last time, I am telling you, I don’t have a….”.
He was halfway through his sentence when something clasped him on his mouth. The person closed the door and threw him on his bed. The merchant started to shout for help, but stopped when he saw a knife in the man’s hand. The person was none other than the bandit who had looted the queen’s treasury. He was a tall, thin, man with a moustache. Behind him lay a fat bag, resting against the chair in front of the bed where the merchant was staring at the thief. He silently asked him whether he was the thief that all the queen’s men were looking for.
The thief said “Yes.I had to steal from that wretched place to cure my mother.”
“How much is it?”,the merchant asked.
”About a ten thousand gold coins”.
The merchant was dragged across the ground by the thief to the chair. The thief opened the bag and showed the merchant the gold coins. The merchant was staring at the glittering coins for quite long.

The thief said”I observed that you are a poor man.So I am offering you a deal.”
”What deal?. If it gets me into trouble, No thank you.” said the merchant, beginning to melt.
“I have to get the medicine for my mother, who right now is dying in her bed at my home. So, I beg you to take these ten thousand gold coins and just give me a thousand silver coins in return. I not only need the medicine for my mother but also buy a few other necessary items for her.”
The merchant was quiet for a while, but then asked “If you need the money, why not take it from the bag itself, why from somewhere else?”
“My mother told me that if I were to provide her medicine, it would have to be from money earned by me, not ill-gotten wealth. I had forgotten about it while I was stealing, but then I remembered my mother’s words. But now, if I turn myself to the soldiers , they will arrest me and pronounce a death sentence on me, and my mother will die. So, I want to exchange these gold coins with you for your silver coins.”

“Why do you care so much about your mother’s words right now,if you already have done far more worse crimes than this one.”

“I am superstitious ,merchant. My mother always told me to stop stealing, but I never cared for her words. But still I love her very much and now that she is dying, I want to fulfill her last wish, which is to stop stealing. I promised her that her medicine would be bought with money gotten from honest work. I want her to have a sinless life and death .So, if you don’t mind ,complete our transaction, and it will be good for both you and me, poor merchant. The merchant finally agreed and went to dig out his pot. He gave his pot to the thief and on counting, the thief found exactly thousand silver coins .The thief smiled at the merchant ,said, ”Thank You”, and quickly ran out from the window.

The merchant was having dreams of big mansions and shops .He called the jeweler the following day and asked him to make gold bars by melting the coins .The old jeweler answered, ”These coins have no value, Sir. But if you still want ,I can make about 5 bars. The value of all these the coins are very little, about five gold coins, Sir”
“WHAT!” shouted the merchant, feeling pain in his chest, before falling on the ground into an eternal slumber.