224 THE XXth ENTUH.Y

The Master Thief

M ANY hundreds of y ar. ago thereli,- d in th small village of'Ullin on Rhode:, opp ite the

AlIu.tolian 'oast, a widow with ber sonJani and h r dau htcr Krisanti. ThhllHbaml

'fIfE ISLE OF THE OOLO SUR 225

Th n he knew what mu~t haye happenedand tied ill all huste.

Th Pili ha meanwhile had found thecorp.'c in his ye 'cI, bu t no olle couldrecogniz it as its whole face wru; coveredwith pitch. H therefore placed it, 011th tltr t in front of hi;; hou and prom-ised IJ. bi' reward to anyone who couldidentify it. ~lany people pass d by a.ndcursed the eorp·c. bu t no one know whu

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it wu.... Th J'll:

2%6 THE XXth OENTURY

the stable in which the precious horsestood. Twenty servants were guarding it."You there, where are you goingf" criedone of them. "To the mosque!" answeredJani in tantly. "What do you wa.nt todo there at midni ht?" questioned thesurprised guard. Jani began to curseand said: "That wile of mine woke meup and said it was morning and time togo to prayers! But don't make me waithere in the cold, let me come into yourstable." "It's lucky for you," observedthe guard, "that we didn't catch you inthe dark and kill you, for we are ex-pecting a thief who is to come at mid-

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Two Woodcutters

A Whopper

THE ISLE Q}!~ THE COl.OSSUS 227

man. ;'1 mu t go there myself," Andhe to k u large earthen jar, half as highagain as a mun, lifted it onto his shoulder,and went with it to the Sultan. "Whatdo you wnnt?" question d the Sultan,

"It's a matter f ettting an old debt,Sultan! :F I' kn w that your gral1llIather,when he was at war and hard pre88ed,once borrow d frem my grancl.father thisjar fill d with gold, NlJW the time hw;ceme to repay me the monry.'

"That'!:! au impudent lie!" cried til·Sultan indignantly.

"Is it a lie? Very well, tl::ell at le

228 THE x..Xth CENTURY

IlU one ill the city should be allowed tohave his :;hoeH m·clltled. For he wantedto see whC'ther Malloli would drink wine.e n without. work. When ManoH cametho next day to sit at, his cobbler's bench,n. gli~rcl approached alld forbade it.

d rt is the Wali'::; 'omruand tlmt fromtoday on no more ~ho can be repaired."Manoli put hi,' benah a ide and ponderedhow he could come by his wino. Hestrolled down to the harbor to !:lOO if anywork WI1 t be found there. SureIlough, he found a ship just lUlloadillg.

All day long he carried sacks of applesaud in the ovoning recoivod fifteen pias-ten;; and because he Ill"d w rked c 'peciaLlyhard the C1Lptain gave him in atllitiona few quarts of apples-not t mentionthe onef' Ite had secretly put aside.Merrily he bought two quarts of winC'.for he bad'arneeL more than ever before.

"How dirt you manage that?" a.skedhi wife, when she I'!1W the abundance ofwine anti apples. ".Iust wait, tOIll nowwill be even hetter.·' The Wali, dres edup 81 a. farmer. again rLropped in, 'awf od and wine on the tablc and f ked ina. tonishment: "\-Vell, how are things?"

"The 'Vt~li ordered that no marc shoesbC' rep "ired, :;0 I unloaded appl ;', ,meltPlI1orrow .I :-ihall gu thC'1' again."

"Good IlIck." said the Wali and or-dered that no lI1ure t;hip:; be unloaded.When Malloli rea 'hed the hn.rlwr 11 'xlmorning. the stevedore. cun;ed him: .. Youhave brought bad luck. you. No soonerdid yOIl como hero than tho work i:\topped.·'And the Captain compla.ined bitterlyand shoutcd tha.t his whole cargowould go bad. But ince nothing couldbe done about the Wali'~ command. thc~rall went together, Captain, sailors andstevedores, to ~" coffee shop, and ManoIitoo, a.lthough he had no money.The owner of the coffee shopnow found his handR moretha.n full /Lnd didn't know

where to begin, so MllnoLi helped him,carried water from the well, passedaround the cups, and was ~o llseful tha.tin the e\'ening the innkceper gave flimtwenty piasters and asked him to comeagain the next day. So Manoli againbOllght his wine, and when the Wali camehe saw the richly spread table and ~pokein wonder: "How did the work gotoday?"

''The WaLi !:leems to want me to gowithout wine for he forbade the shipsto unload. :::)0 1 worked in a coffee shopand earned twenty pia.sters." And theWali retllrned to hi palace and ornered!lll t.he cotIee shops to clo e.

Now ~lanoli "tarted to clean the street,and when the Wali al u forbade this. hecommenced to paint the Rhops andhouse. :::)0 the Wali rCc~Lizcd that hewOltld ha\'e tu get around him in !:lomeother way. alld order d up all the menin .Man li'to: ;'itr 'et for' rnilitary to:orviee.For the fin;t time M.l:tlloli lost hupe andwondered: ., How shall J caUl by mywine t day!" However. us h returnedhome from llrilling in the evening, heJlc~wncd his Hword at i:l hlctcksruith't:i forti,'u piast.cl's. keeping only the sheath,and bought. hi,; winc. When tbe WaLil' me. he was just carving a wooden. WOI' l. "Don't tell an yone ., said Manoli,.. , ha.ve IllLWllcd my :word and am nowIlH~king myl'oU another one." "Now I'vegot you" thouc,ht the \\ ali, and nextmorning called out all the Roldiers. Thenhe command d Manoli and another sol-dier to step forward, and ordered t.he'obbler to cut off the head of his comrade.

MI'l,Jloli quickly raised hi arm to hc,wen/l.nd cried loudly: "0 God, if this manhere is innocent, let my sword turn towooeL in order that I tipill no guiltlesshlood." He spoke and unsheathed

his wooden sword. Then theWaLi had to laugh. He sentthe other soldiers homo andmade Manoli his bodyguard.

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