There once was a man who had a beautiful daughter named Sapphire. She had grown up to be an extraordinary young lady. To her father's dismay, she never seemed interested in the idea of marriage and had never even spoken about a boy. She had always received many offers of marriage from mere merchants to Kings but she never found anyone who piqued her interest enough.
In the city that they lived in there was a lot of crime that happened and there were a lot of robberies. The thief was a professional and no one could catch him- not even the hundreds of armed soldiers the King hired to take him down. The King decided he would do it himself since no one else was competent enough to do it (his words, not mine).
One night he saw someone lurking in the shadows and decided that he was the thief that had been stealing everything in sight. The King approached him and the man asked who he was. The King replied and said that he was a thief so that the real thief would trust him. It worked and the thief invited him back to his home since they were one and the same. The King got to his home and saw all of the stolen goods that ranged from jewelry to furniture to antiques. A servant approached him and told him he should leave because of how dangerous this thief is. He took her advice and quickly ran back to the castle to get soldiers and brought them back to the thief's home. The thief saw that he had been betrayed and decided he was going to try to fight his way out of this. He killed the entire army that the King had brought with him and the King knew he was going to have to be the one to take him down. He finally captured him after a long battle and brought him back to where he was going to be locked up until his sentencing.
Later in the day...
The thief was brought up for sentencing when Sapphire laid eyes on him and suddenly decided that he was the one she wanted to marry. She asked her father to beg the King to let him go so she could marry him and they could live together forever. Her father said he would try but he could make no promises since the thief has wronged the entire country. The King obviously declined their pleas for the thief's release and is sentenced to death. Sapphire decided that if he was going to be put to death then so was she. She stood up next to him and told them that they might as well kill them both at the same time. The thief realized how much she loved him and how loyal to him she was. He had never had someone care for him the way Sapphire did. He decided that he had enough and wanted to change his ways.
"I will spend the rest of eternity trying to get all of you to forgive me," he yelled out to the crowd. "Sapphire has made me realize that what I have done is wrong and I need to own up to it and change my ways. I need to be better to spend forever with her and her family."
The King was actually kind of touched that he was willing to make a change and with the people's consent, he decided to give him another shot. The thief had a complete turn around and was even trusted to become a general for the King after a few years of hard work. He returned everyone's belongings that he had stolen and him and Sapphire lived a very happy life. Sapphire knew what she wanted in a man and saw the potential in the thief that he didn't even see. Sometimes, when you know, you know.
Author's Note: I took the story of the Thirteenth Goblin from Twenty-two Goblins by Arthur W. Ryder and kept most of the plot but changed the ending. In the original story, Sapphire's name is Pearl and when she notices the thief she begs for him to be released and says she wants to die with him, but Shiva comes down and tells her that since she has been so loyal to the thief that she can ask for anything she wants. She asked for her father to have a hundred sons since she will be gone soon. Shiva agreed and said she was so faithful that she could have another wish. She asked for the thief to change his ways and for them to live forever together. Shiva agreed and the thief made a full turn around and the king even appointed him the general later on! I liked the ending of that story but I really wanted to make it my own and make the thief do his own work and his own turn around. Throughout the story he wasn't ever really held accountable and always had people sticking up for him on his behalf so I thought it would be a nice change for him to dig himself out of the hole he made.
Bibliography: Thirteenth Goblin by Arthur W. Ryder
Image Credits: Jewels