Five theives!

 In the olden days, in the kingdom of Silbaripuram, there was a time when some lords lived as grandly as emperors.

One night, five thieves from the neighboring kingdom of Kosalapuram arrived at the backyard of a lord’s mansion. Since the lord and his family had gone to a festival, the thieves had nothing to fear. However, they did not have the habit of breaking down strong doors. Instead, they had a large monitor lizard (udumbu) in their sack.

They tied a rope around the lizard's waist and tossed it onto the upper floor of the mansion. As the lizard gripped the roof tightly, the leanest thief among them climbed up using the rope!

Soon, two others followed him to the top. They removed the roof tiles and descended, landing right in the kitchen. Though they were covered in soot, smoke, and cobwebs, they managed to pack all the gold and money from the cellar into a sack.

As the thieves walked through a deserted trail under the cover of darkness, all five were muttering the same thought: "If this wealth is divided into five, I will only get one share. I must somehow trick the other four and take it all for myself!"

Deciding that nothing should stand in the way of their plan, the gang said, "We no longer need the lizard." They immediately set it free.

Without their usual chatter, each man walked on, plotting his own scheme. Eventually, they reached the banks of a river.

One of them suggested, "Since we are all covered in soot and dust, it is wise to bathe before moving on. Otherwise, people will get suspicious."

However, they decided that one person would enter the water at a time while the other four guarded the sack. When the first man dove in, the other four whispered, "If we get rid of him, we can divide it into four shares."

Suddenly, they grabbed his clothes from the riverbank and vanished into the darkness! When the thief climbed out of the water, he found his clothes missing and wasted time searching for them. Realizing he had been betrayed, he let out a loud cry!

As the remaining four walked on, they continued to plot how to reduce their numbers further. One suggested, "The path to the neighboring land is down through that cave. But soldiers might be patrolling at night. It's better to go with the merchants in the morning market carrying this sack."

They decided to spend the night in the cave. But as soon as the first man entered, the other three rolled the stone entrance shut and trapped him inside! Inside, he tried with all his might to move the stone, but he couldn't.

The three remaining thieves traveled some distance and said happily, "Now that two are gone, we have enough to live comfortably."

By then, they felt hungry and decided one of them should go to a tea shop in the market to buy food. The third thief quickly jumped up and said, "I’ll go get it."

While walking, he muttered to himself, "This is a gamble. They might trick me and leave. But if they are still there, I will give them poisoned food, kill them both, and take all the wealth! Anyway, they can't go far without food."

At the same time, the two guarding the sack said, "We should strike him down the moment he arrives with the food. Then we can eat and share the wealth half-and-half."

When the third man arrived with the food, they struck him down! Then, without knowing, they ate the poisoned food and started walking with the sack.

However, after a short distance, both collapsed and died. The sack lay abandoned there for a few days. Eventually, animals dragged it away, and it sank into a swamp.

Moral: Wealth gained through mutual betrayal often ends in ruin. Earn only through fair means and enjoy it.