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1     A long time ago, in Khartoum, Sudan, an old thief named Ali lived with his wife and eight children in a house made of mud bricks with a thatched roof. The family was very poor. They often did not eat as well as their neighbors. Time passed, and two of his children, a boy and a girl, became sick. Ali did not have enough money to take his kids to the hospital, because in his country, they have to pay for all medical care–there is no insurance. If you do not have enough money, then no one will help you. He tried giving them boiled bitter roots, a Sudanese traditional medicine, but it did not help and his poor kids passed away.

2     The mother, Halima, was very busy thinking about how she was going to take care of her six remaining kids. Days and nights Halima asked God to help her family. At first, Ali was too lazy to go to work, but then he started to look for a job. However, he could not find a job, because everyone knew that he stole his neighbors’ animals, such as cows, goats, and lambs.

3     One day a goat left her two kids at home alone, and she went outside to search for food for them, grass and water. That evening the old thief was watching the goat as she was leaving her house. So, Ali the thief came close to the door, changing his voice and said, “My lovely kids! Open the door! I have brought you some grasses and water to eat. You must be hungry. Open the door!” He was pretending to be their mother by bleating like their mother with soft, sweet words.

4     Finally, the children opened the door, and he grabbed two kids and killed them. He then took the meat to his family. They were very happy because they had not eaten good food for a long time. The meat was delicious! His children and wife were jumping, laughing, giving kisses to their dad, and hugging him. He was happy to see his family smiling, but he had not woredk for that meat. It was a bad idea to steal somebody’s kids.

5     When the mother goat came home, her kids were not there. Before she left the house, she had told them to not open the door until she came back. She then went to the police station to say that her two kids went missing.

6     The goat said, “I left my kids at home so I could find grass for them to eat, but when I came home my kids were not there.” She was crying. The police started to look for her kids. The thief thought of a plan to escape punishment.

7     That night the thief’s kids and his wife were sleeping outside.. He brought water and splashed it on them like rain drops. He told his family it was raining and to go inside the bedroom and sleep. The next morning, the police came to the house because everyone in the village knew that he was a thief.

8     The police asked his children, “When was the last time that your dad brought meat for you to eat?”

9     They responded, “The last time that it rained.” The police laughed and said that means they had not eaten meat since last year. The poor goat was crying over and over and missing her two lovely daughters.

10    In the following years, the thief’s family became successful, and they had a lot money. Ali went to work in a place where they cared for animals. He learned that animals have feelings just as humans do. And he also saw how hard it was for animals to protect their own children. He saw a baby goat crying for milk, and Ali remembered how he stole the poor animals and had killed them. From that moment on, Ali regretted his actions because he had not  treated the animals fairly. He did not care for them as we would take care of our own kids.

11    Since that day, the thief changed his life to become an honorable person. The thief started to do good deeds and help people. He asked for forgiveness from God and from the people that he stole things from. His heart became cleansed. He was living a happy life with his family until his wife passed away. Two years later, he also passed away. He had learned many lessons. You should not take anything that does not belong to you. You have to work hard to achieve what you want in your life. Stealing others property is not a good thing to do. No one will respect you if you are a thief.

12    My grandma and grandpa told my dad this story when he was thirteen years old. He liked the story, and he was thinking about passing it down to his children one day. I sat down with my dad for one hour and thirty minutes. My dad and I talked about the story. I was listening and asking him questions. By asking my dad those questions, it helped me to think and write my story. I liked the story because it teaches us no matter how poor you are, don’t ever think of taking things that do not belong to you. We must work hard to reach our dreams.