The master said, “The same thing that you are doing!”

The thief said, “You are a strange man. I am a thief; I am looking for something.”

He said, “That’s what I say! For thirty years I am also looking for something, but in this house there is nothing. So let us make a contract: if we find something, we will divide it.”

The thief said, “My god! You are the owner of this house…”

He said, “I am not the owner of this house. Somebody was, but he is dead. I found this hut and seeing that nobody is living here, I started living here thirty years ago. Since then I have been searching – something must be somewhere; that old man cannot have taken away all the things with him. In fact, in death nobody can take away anything.”

The thief said, “The morning is coming close and I have not come here to discuss great matters, death, and whether somebody can take anything beyond death or not. You just please let me go.”

The master said, “But what about the search? Have I to search my whole life alone? Won’t you give me a hand?”

The thief said, “I pray…just let me get out! If people find me here in the morning, there is bound to be trouble.”

That Zen monk said, “There will be no trouble at all, because for thirty years I have been waiting. Nobody comes here. Let us just have a good dialogue, and in the morning we can search better, more light, and maybe we can find something. And we can become partners! If you find something in somebody else’s house, half will be mine and half will be yours.” He said, “You are a religious man – are you joking? Are you absolutely mad? Making a contract with a thief…people think you are a saint!”

The monk said, “That is true. People think I am a saint, but I don’t have anything other than the blanket. If you don’t want to divide the blanket in two parts, you can take it home.”

And he gave the blanket to the thief. The thief just could not believe what was happening and he ran out. As he was going out, the monk shouted, “Come back and close the door! And always remember: when somebody gives you something, at least say thank you. Learn manners!”

The thief said, “Thank you,” and closed the door. And the monk said, “Remember – this ‘thank you’ will help you go a long way.”

After two years, the thief was arrested for stealing in some other house, caught red-handed. In the court, the magistrate asked him, “Can you give some reference, anybody who knows you?”

He remembered that poor man, so beautiful and so lovely and so nice. He said, “Yes, I know one Zen monk who lives outside the town.”