A Clever Thief
Lipi Shorts
Karnataka · KSEEB · Class 9 · English
Swipe up to begin ↑
A Clever Thief
Central idea
Rajappa, a generous man, trusts his miserly friend Nagappa and buries a hundred silver coins under a banyan tree on his advice. Nagappa secretly digs them up. On returning from a pilgrimage, Rajappa sees through him and, with the village chief's advice, sets a clever trap. Greedy Nagappa is tricked into burying a hundred coins raised by pawning his wife's ornaments, and Rajappa quietly takes them.
Central idea
Nagappa and Rajappa were close friends who lived long ago. Rajappa was open-handed. Having no children, he longed to visit holy places and had put aside 200 silver coins for it. His friend Nagappa was quite the opposite, a miser who always thought of money.
1. Two friends, two natures
Rajappa planned to take a hundred coins for the journey and keep the other hundred safe. He asked his friend for advice. Nagappa refused to keep the money himself, saying he might spend it and would then be unable to return it.
2. The problem of safe keeping
1/2
Rajappa followed the advice. He buried a hundred coins and marked the place with stones. Then he left with his wife on the pilgrimage. That very night Nagappa, who had waited impatiently, dug up the coins.
3. The theft
1/2
When Rajappa returned, he went to the tree after dusk and found the stones in place but the coins gone. He searched other spots under the tree in vain. He knew only Nagappa had known about the hiding place.
4. Rajappa finds the pit empty
1/2
Rajappa greeted Nagappa lovingly and said he had missed him. He then said fortune had favoured him and he now owned nearly a thousand coins. He asked Nagappa to come at dusk and help choose a spot under the banyan tree.
5. The trap is laid
1/2
Nagappa was nervous. Had Rajappa already seen the empty pit? Would he suspect him? He asked his wife Nagamani. She was calm and suggested a plan: pawn her jewels, take only a hundred coins for them and bury those in the same pit.
6. Nagappa's greedy plan
1/2
Nagappa followed the plan, buried the hundred coins at dusk and hurried home. Rajappa had guessed something like this and was watching from a hiding place. As soon as Nagappa left, he dug up the coins and went home with them.
7. Rajappa watches
For two days Nagappa waited, but Rajappa did not come. He grew impatient and went to Rajappa's house, saying that so large a sum should not lie at home. Rajappa said calmly that he had lent the entire thousand to the village chief.
8. The excuse
1/2
Nagappa nearly fainted and stumbled home. His wife wailed about the loss of her ornaments. Rajappa kept the hundred coins that Nagappa had buried and taught his friend a lesson without any violence.
9. The punishment
1/2
Word meanings
generous
ready to give freely to others.
miser
a person who loves money and hates spending or sharing it.
pilgrimage
a journey to a holy place.
expense
money spent on something.
Word meanings
1/6
Themes & message
•
Cheating a friend brings its own punishment: Nagappa loses even his wife's ornaments.
•
Intelligence is better than anger: Rajappa recovers his money by a clever plan.
•
Greed makes people blind: Nagappa believes a false story of a thousand coins.
Themes & message
1/2
You finished this chapter's Shorts!