Old is gold

This is a story of an old sleepy town.It wasn't populated with too many people.Everyone seemed to know everyone here.It was peaceful as there was no incidents of theft or murder here ever.It was quiet strange as there was rarely any incidents in this town although it was known to house some of the wealthiest men here.

One day a traveller arrived in this small town.He was crossing this town to go to the other side.He arrived here by nightfall.As he was scared to travel through the woods at night (because of thieves) he decided to spend the night in this town.He looked for a motel or an inn.But was unable to find any.He went and knocked at a house,which looked like the biggest house in the whole town.As he rang the bell the lights of the porch came up and a sleepy looking boy opened the front door.He asked the traveller what he wanted.The traveller hesitatingly asked if he could speak to someone elderly of the house.The boy kept him standing at the door and went inside.After a few moments of suspence an old man came up.He was bald and thin but eyes shone even in the darkness.The traveller asked him if he could spend the night somewhere in his house as he couldn't find a place to stay anywhere else in this town.The old man asked him what he was doing in the town.The traveller told him how he needed to reach the city in the morning as he was a businessman but for the night he didn't want to travel through the woods as he has heard from his friends that there are robbers in the forest.

The old man asked him to step inside and showed him a room to stay for the night.He asked him to wash himself and come and join him for dinner.The old man was very cordial.The traveller was thrilled.He washed himself quickly and came to the dining room to have his dinner.The house was grand with lots of wonderful paintings on the wall.There was expensive antique decorative items too.The traveller was impressed.As he was scanning around the place the old man came in and both sat down for dinner.The boy got two plates for both of them.One plate was of regular porcelain and the other was a plate made of gold.He laid the golden plate infront of the traveller.His eyes nearly popped out.He asked the old man why the golden plate for him and ordinary plate for himself.The old man said as he was the guest they love to treat them as God.So the traveller quietly ate his food all the while wondering how to rob the plate he was eating in.The old man noticed that he was very quiet.The traveller asked the old man if he was not afraid of theives,with such expensive things around his house.The old man said no, as he thought he was much clever than any theif and this town has a reputation of no crime incidents.He said he will tell him a secret as to where he keeps his golden plate at night.He said he hangs the plate with the help of three strings and fills it up with water in his room.So if someone tries to bring the plate down the water will immediately spill on the face of the old man and that would wake him up.The theif would never be able to escape with the plate.The traveller kept smiling in his head listening to the old man.He thought the old man was the biggest fool he had ever come across.He now knew exactly how to rob the plate.

The traveller couldn't control his excitement.He hurriedly said goodnight to the old man and said goodbye as well as he has to rush in the morning and might not meet the old man again to thank him for his hospitality.He rushed to his room pretending to sleep as he was tired from his days travel.

As the house become quiet he came out of his room and tiptoed to the pond outside.When he was waiting at the porch he had noticed the lotus pond just outside the house.He planned to use a lotus stem which looks like a straw to suck the water off the golden plate before he robs it.He removed his slippers and his shirt before jumping into the pond full of lotus blooms.His excitement knew no bounds.He removed a fat stem and rushed back into the house.Went to the old mans room and pulled a chair near to the plate.At it was at a height he stood on the chair and sucked the water out.Then he removed the plate from the strings and tiptoed back to the front of the house.He couldn't leave at this time of the night as there could be other robbers out there who might rob him off his golden plate.So he decided to go in the morning but he had to hide the plate somewhere till then.He cannot keep it in the house as they would notice it missing in the morning.First thing they would do is suspect him and search him and his belongings.So he decided to hide it in the muck below the pond.When he leaves in the morning he could collect it and go on his way.He thought this was a brilliant idea.He hid it there and came back to his room and slept.

In the morning the old man woke up to find the golden plate missing.He immediately knew it was the traveller who had robbed it.He came to check him in the room.He saw his trousers were covered with mud from the pond.He knew now for sure that the traveller was not a businessman but a theif.The traveller woke up a little later and came to say goodbye to the old man.He said he overslept as his house was so peaceful and nice.The old man told him about the missing plate and the traveller said he was sorry for his loss.The old man should have been more careful in hiding his precious things.Nowadays there are too many robbers roaming around as travellers so he should be more cautious.Saying this bit he left.When the old man was out of sight he removed his shirt and jumped into the pond to recover his golden plate.He searched and searched but couldn't find it anywhere in the bottom of the pond.Just then the old man stood on the bank of the pond and asked him what he was doing there.The traveller said he was taking a bath as it was his habit to do so in the morning.The old man laughed and said wasn't taking a bath at night enough? Anyways whatever he was searching for in the pond is in the house now.The traveller realised that he was caught.He said he was sorry that he lied but before he leaves he only wanted to know how did the old man knew he had robbed the plate and where he had hidden it.The traveller fell on the feet of the old man as he had never met someone so clever.The old man told him that he knew he was a theif the moment he knocked on his door.His suspecion was confirmed when he saw him scanning around the dining hall before they had their dinner.He purposely asked the servant to give him the golden plate as he wanted him to attempt to rob it.He knew that he had hidden it in the pond looking at the mud on his trousers.So he removed his plate from the pond.

Now as he was listening to the whole incident the old man was taking his time as he had called the cops to pick the traveller up and put him in the jail.By the time the traveller could understand what just happened,the door bell rang and the cops were at the door.The traveller was caught and taken away.