The Thieves of Draa
It was told that on a night of deep and heavy darkness, when all eyes were closed and all fires had died down, seven thieves from the Draa region crept toward a small village sleeping quietly between the hills. They moved like shadows — not a whisper between them, not a footstep heard.
Their leader peered at the village and murmured:
"Tonight our spoils will be rich. Wait until the last lamp goes out."
So they sat in the darkness and watched. One by one the lights went out, and silence settled over everything until it felt as though even the stars held their breath.
But in one of the tents, a man lay wide awake. He knew nothing of the thieves, yet something in his heart would not let him rest. When he heard a faint rustling at the edge of the village, he leaned close to his wife and whispered:
"Do not move. Someone is watching us tonight."
She took his hand in hers and said with quiet confidence:
"Do what you think is right. I am with you."
The man took a deep breath. Then he raised his voice inside the tent as though addressing a room full of men:
"Brothers! I have been told that thieves have been roaming the area these past nights. We will divide the watch between us — three of you at the eastern entrance, three at the western entrance. No one sleeps until dawn!"
Outside, the thieves froze where they stood. They looked at one another with wide eyes. The leader whispered:
"The village is on guard and full of men! We must pull back now before they find us!"
They retreated in silence until they reached the edge of the valley, where they huddled together and spoke in hushed voices. Finally the leader said:
"Send the youngest to check. If the tent is empty of men, the night is ours."
The youngest slipped through the darkness like an arrow until he reached the tent and listened with all his senses. He heard nothing but the wind and quiet breathing. He hurried back and said:
"There is no one there! The man was performing alone! Come quickly before dawn breaks!"
Like a wave they rushed back toward the village. But what they did not know was that the wakeful man had not wasted a single moment — while the thieves were huddled in the valley making their plans, he had been quietly knocking on his neighbors' doors one by one, waking them in silence and placing them at their posts with their staffs and weapons ready.
So when the thieves drew close and nearly reached the first tent, the men of the village rose from every direction as though they had grown from the earth itself, and their voices rang out through the quiet night:
"Seize them! Let no one escape!"
The thieves scattered like leaves in the wind, leaving everything behind them. And as their leader ran breathlessly through the darkness, only one thought echoed in his mind like a drum:
"We should never have come back."
When the first light of dawn touched the village, its people were sitting together drinking tea and laughing — and among them sat the wakeful man who had not slept that night, yet he was the most at ease of them all.
Moral: You do not need a sword when you possess a wakeful mind and a steady heart. Clever thinking defeats brute force in every time and place.
Dictated by Moha ou Ali ou Meryem of Oulad Khellift — A. Messat.
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Adapted from Émile Laoust (1949) · Retold by Morocco Hykayat