There was a king who had a cupboard that was made entirely of glass. It was a special cupboard. It looked empty, but you could always take out anything you wanted. There was only one thing you had to remember. Whenever you took something out of it, you had to put something else back in, although nobody knew why.

One day, some thieves broke into the palace and stole the cupboard. “Now we can have anything we want,” they said. One of the thieves said, “I want a large bag of gold,” and he opened the glass cupboard and got it. The other two did the same and they too got exactly what they wanted. The thieves forgot one thing. Not one of them put anything back in the cupboard.

They went on and on for weeks and months. At last, the leader of the thieves could bear it no longer. He took a hammer and smashed the glass cupboard into a million pieces, and then all three fell down dead.

When the king returned home, he ordered his servants to search for the cupboard. When they found it, and the dead thieves, they filled sixty great carts with the gold and took it back to the king. He said, “If those thieves had only put something back into the cupboard, they would be alive this day.”

He ordered his servants to collect all the pieces of glass and melt them down and make them into a globe with all the countries of the world upon it, to remind himself and others, to give back something in return when someone or something does or gives us something.

A weary traveler stopped at Sam’s house and asked him for shelter for the night. Sam was a friendly soul. He not only agreed to let the traveler stay for the night, he decided to treat his guest to some curried chicken. So he bought a couple of chickens from the market and gave them to his wife to cook. Then he went off to buy some fruit.

Now, Sam’s wife could not resist food. She had a habit of eating as she cooked. So as she cooked the meat, she smelled the rich steam and could not help tasting a piece. It was

tender and delicious, and she decided to have another piece. Soon, there was only a tiny bit left. Her little son, Kevin, ran into the kitchen. She gave him that little piece. Kevin

found it so tasty that he begged his mother for more. But there was no more chicken left. The traveler, who had gone to have a wash, returned. The woman heard him coming and had to think of a plan quickly. She began to scold her son loudly: “Your father has taught you a shameful and disgusting habit. Stop it, I tell you!” The traveler was curious. “What habit has his father taught the child?” he asked. “Oh,” said the woman, “Whenever a guest arrives, my husband cuts off their ears and roasts them for my son to eat.”

The traveler was shocked. He picked up his shoes and fled.

“Why has our guest left in such a hurry?” asked Sam when he came back.

“A fine guest indeed!” exclaimed his wife. “He snatched the chickens out of my pot and ran off with them!”

“The chickens!” exclaimed Sam. He ran after his guest, shouting. “Let me have one, at least; you may keep the other!” But his guest only ran faster!

Once, there was a severe drought. There was little water in Tony’s well, and he didn’t know what would happen to the fruit trees in his garden. Just then, he noticed three men looking intently at his house. He was certain that the three were planning to rob his house.

He acted quickly. He shouted out to his son, “My son, because of the drought, money has become scarce. There are many thieves. Let us protect our valuables, and put all of our jewels in a box and throw them into the well. They will be safe there.”

He quickly told his son to put some large stones in a box and throw them into the well. The thieves heard the sound of the box falling into the well and were happy.

That night they came to the well. The box was heavy and had landed deep down in the well. To get it, they would have to take out some of the water. They started drawing water from the well and pouring it onto the ground. Tony had made arrangements to make sure that the water reached his fruit trees. He had channels leading from the well to each of the trees.

By the time the thieves found the box, they had drawn out enough water to water the trees. It was almost dawn. Tony sent for the soldiers, and just as the thieves were trying to open the box, they were caught red-handed.