"The Honest Thief" and Introduction to Obstacles
by
Oasiskids
The Honest Thief
By Oasis School students
ahichi, the owner of a rice shop, complains to Ooka, a Japanese magistrate known for his wise decisions, that someone has been stealing a small amount of rice each night.
When Ooka determines that Yahichi has guarded his shop with an 80-year old loyal guard named Chogoro, he offers to guard the shop himself. His suspicion that both men have been falling asleep at their posts proves correct.
Within an hour of the watching time Yahichi and Chogoro are snoring softly. Gonta, a laborer who has been out of work for some time approaches the shop to steal a handful of rice for his family but he sees Ooka and thinks he is a guard. Ooka disguises himself as another thief to trap Gonta into completing his crime. While Gonta takes some rice, he is not willing to take more than he needs to feed his family for one day.
Ooka is surprised to learn that he intends to pay back the stolen rice when he finds work. Ooka calls Gonta an honest thief and finds work for him to test his honesty. He wants to see if Gonta will repay his debt to Yahichi.In the story we are told that Ooka put all kinds of obstacles in his way to make it difficult for him to enter the shop, but this did not prevent Gonta from returning each night although he became more and more afraid of being caught.
The story never tells us exactly what obstacles Gonta faced so we brainstormed possibilities and each of us wrote about what happened on one night when Gonta attempted to return some of the rice he owed Yahichi.
Behold – our masterpieces!
