There was a thief, who had been born to be the knight of a great king. Yet, he lost focus on his zeal, settled for less and acquired the habit of stealing things. He was not really a great thief, he used to get pretty but simple things so that, if he ever got caught, he would not incurr in such great a debt. As he got distracted from his dutties and became more and more familiar with bad influences, two girls friends of his came to the king for help. As this king was trully a man of trust, the girls knew that he would not take it on the lad, but that, if there was someone who could help, it would certainly be him. The king listened with concern, as the guy was truly dear to him, and devised a plan.
The king sat a trap for the lad. He placed one of his most beloved jewels among simpler things in his treasure. The jewel was covered with a farse of cheaper minerals, rust and dust, but part of its brightness shone faintly through. A party was offered at the king's place and the lad was invited. Knowing of his vice, the king arranged for him to gain access to the treasure chamber. As expected, the thief felt tempted to take something with him, it should'n be anything of importance, nothing that the king would notice, but something that he could boast of afterwards and perhaps sell in exchange for some cash. He searched among the stuff of minor value and, among that, he found a curious shiny trinklet that he shove into his pocket. Under the unnoticed look of the king, the lad came out thinking that nobody would ever pay attention, enjoyed the party and went back home.
Once there at night, he confortably took out the booty and observed it with curiosity and a proud smile. However, as his sight pearsed deeper into the stone, the mistic light that emanated from its core wounded its pupils. He looked away suprised and tried to look again but more carefully. He then discovered that, if he rubbed softly the outercore, this one began to fall. As he discovered this, with the jewell still half disguised, he trembled with fear. This was, in no way, a cheap trinklet, but rather one of those magic stones that only the favorites of the king had ever seen. While still in awe because of what he held in his hands, he also realized that it had not been given to him, but that he had stolen it. This definitely implied that, if caught, he would end up in prision for the rest of his life, due to a debt he would never affort to pay. He never thought of confesing, but rather of secretly going back to the king's place and replacing the jewel where he had found it. And so he did. He was so skillfull that he managed to enter unnoticed and place the jewel back.
However, the next morning, he woke up and found that the jewel remained on his bureau. He was surprised and scared again. Clearly, somebody in the palace knew of what had happened and returned the guilt to him. What was he supposed to do? Confess? Never! He had run out of palace precisely because he was afraid of the king, he was scared of his destiny and did not want to see the king face to face and look at him in the eye. He could not sell it, for he would risk leaving traces the men of the king could follow and catch him for thievery, after all a jewell like that would certainly be looked after by them. He could have tried to destroy the jewel so that no evidence was found... but that could end up worst! If the king knew that he had ever caused it harm, he would pay with his life! No, even thinking about it broke goosebumps across his body. Therefore, without wanting to think it much, twice again he tried to put the jewel back in its place, but to no avail: the following morning he would find it again by his side on the bureau. He also tried hiding it, placing it inside the wardrobe at some hidden corner, or inside boxes to be forgoten about, but by the next morning, the jewel would appear again, by his side, at the bureau. That could only mean that somebody knew what he was doing, entered his house as he was not present, searched for the jewel and placed it back at the bureau. He began to ponder who, but never wanted to consider the posibility that it was the king himself who knew it all, and comanded his servants to watch after that jewel, and keep it where he could not forget about it. For how long will this keep on happening? We do not know. We have no way of knowing, for only the king knows what will take place and if the thief will ever regret and come back to be a knight. We also do not know, for we are only in charge of the jewel, but those two girls are so dear to his grace, that he must be trying in other ways to get his knight back. For the moment, there lays the lad, hidding from the king, getting used to the jewel by his side and, some times, even carring it in his pocket, certainly not knowing what to do with it.
