Short Story For Children - Sheikh Chili and the Thieves!

- Gayathri Krishnan

Sheikh Chili was an Indian folk tale character, quite well known for his simplicity and the troubles he scraped out of.

One day Sheikh Chili sat on a tree, cutting down a branch with his axe.

'Hey you, you are chopping the branch you're sitting on, said a passerby. No sooner had the passerby said this than the branch came crashing down along with Sheikh Chili and his axe. Sheikh Chili got up and hurried behind the passerby.

'You must be a holy man. You are able to foretell the future.'

'Hey, even a child would know you'd fall off if you cut the branch you're sitting on.'

'Well, tell me. When will I die?

'How would I know?'

'If you don't tell me now, I will kill you,' said Chili raising his axe.

'You will die in 3 days,' said the passerby for that would give him enough time to finish his business in town and flee from Chili's fury.

'What if I don't?' asked Chili impertinently.

'Then go to the cremation ground, wrap yourself up in a white sheet and wait till you die,' said the irritated passerby.

Chili waited for 3 days. Nothing happened! On the third night, Chili packed up a clean white cloth, went to the cremation ground, rolled himself up in the sheet and waited.

It was then that the four thieves arrived to divvy up their loot. Chili lay quiet, listening to the thieves' jabber. When the thieves were about to leave, one of them tipped over Chili's foot. Chili sat up with a start.

'Are you a ghost?' asked one of the thieves. 'Or a policeman spying on us?'

'No' said Chili.

'We are on a looting mission and we need an extra hand. Mind coming along with us? We'll give you a share of the loot,' said the leader invitingly.

'But, I am fresh dead!' said Chili.

'You can help us in our mission, come back and get fresh dead,' said the leader.

So Chili folded up his white sheet, trailed behind the four thieves to a village. They stood in front of a house where an old woman lived all by herself.

'This is where our mission begins,' said the leader as he crept into the small hut, followed by the other thieves and Chili. As the men hunted for valuables, Chili spotted a pot on the kitchen stove, filled with delicious kheer.

'Hey, I found a pot of scrumptious hot kheer. Why don't we eat first?' asked Chili.

As the men sat and ate, Chili noticed the old woman sleeping on the bed with her hand stretched out. 'The poor old thing needs a share of the kheer, I suppose,' thought Chili. He took a spoonful of the hot kheer and poured it on her outstretched palm.

'Eeeeeeah!' the old woman got up with a scream. The thieves and Chili scrambled for cover before her screams could wake up the neighbourhood. The neighbours did come and ask her what the matter was.

The old woman pointed towards the Heaven and said, 'Only He knows!'

Chili who had scurried up the beam of the house said, 'Grandma, even the one under your bed knows!'

The thief under the bed said, 'Even the one inside the trunk knows.'

'Even the one hiding behind the pillar knows,' said a voice from inside the trunk.

'Hey, I am your leader. Don't tell them where I am,' pleaded a voice from the kitchen.

The thieves were pulled out from their corners and thrashed up.

'Let's leave them. They only took the kheer. Must have been very hungry, poor fellows,' said the kind-hearted old woman.

The four thieves went on their way, vowing never to meet Sheikh Chili again.