The Thief stole lots of little things
from merchants, bakers, queens and kings.
He didn't know, behind his back,
we called him "kleptomaniac."
When he saw something that he liked
-although he later was contrite-
forward to steal his hands would twitch,
as though his fingers were bewitched.
Until, one day, the King decreed
"I've had enough of this man's greed!
He's stolen center, left and right!
I want him far out of my sight!"
The Thief walked sadly out the gate,
ashamed he should have earned this fate.
He trudged on slowly through the hills
past farms and bakeries and mills.
At night, he stopped a bit to rest,
and thought, "I think it would be best
if I could find some place to stay
since my dear home is far away."
And as he thought, it caught his eye:
the entrance to a cave nearby!
"Perhaps I can sleep there," he said.
"It's very nearly time for bed."
He gathered up his stick and pack,
and so the kleptomaniac
went trudging to the lonely cave
to face his life, alone but brave.
But when he came to his new home,
he found that he was not alone,
for sleeping on a pile of gold,
a beast lay, like in tales of old!
It was a dragon, great and fierce!
With armor that no sword could pierce,
and teeth and claws like mighty spears,
a monster from man's darkest fears.
The Thief then looked upon the gold
and felt his fears grow slowly cold.
His fingers then began to twitch;
that kleptomaniac's old itch.
But as his hand began to reach,
he heard a quiet voice beseech,
"Don't take the gold! You'll waken it!
He won't like that one little bit!"
The Thief turned 'round and, standing there,
he saw the Princess, dark and fair
held captive by this fearsome beast
to fatten for its Birthday Feast.
The Thief then froze right on the spot
and wondered, "Shall I steal or not?"
he looked back to the treasure heap;
the beast rolled over in its sleep.
Then turmoil broke out in his mind,
war of a spiritual kind.
He knew not whether he should steal,
or hark the princess's appeal.
Then, finally, he made a choice
and called out in a gentle voice,
"Fair maiden, come away with me
where you may finally be free!"
He took the Princess by the hand
and led her swift across the land
back to the Kingdom and their home
in which her father ruled alone.
But at his daughter's glad return,
the King felt all his anger burn
away and left his heart so light,
at once he made the Thief a knight!
The good Thief's banishment was done,
his need to steal was overcome!
And in his house there reads a plaque,
"No More A Kleptomaniac."
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