Once there was a Jew, we’ll call him Yossel, who made his living as a horse-thief. He would travel from town to town, and wherever there was a horse that was not well enough guarded, he would find his way to it and take possession of it, after which he would sell it for a handsome profit.
One day, Yossel heard that Yankel, a farmer in one village, had 4 horses, and that he was careless with their protection. That night, Yossel made his way stealthily into Yankel’s barn, and located the horses. Sure enough, the stalls were all unlocked, and Yossel picked one of the horses. With the help of an apple and some sugar, Yossel ensured full cooperation of the horse, and in no time he had relocated the horse to his own barn.
Encouraged by the ease with which his operation succeeded, Yossel decided to return for a second horse. However, here he met with resistance. The horse became alarmed, being approached by someone he didn’t recognize, and started raising a ruckus. The noise woke Yankel, who ran to the barn to see what the commotion was all about. To his amazement, he saw a man standing there, and a horse missing.
“Who are you?” asked the startled Yankel, “and . . where is my horse?!”
The quick-witted horse thief looked at him, and replied quietly: “I am your horse.”
“Wha . . what are you talking about?” exclaimed the confused farmer.
“Listen to me, and I’ll tell you my story. I once committed a grave sin, and it was decreed that I come down to the earth in the form of a horse in order to atone for my sin through my suffering. What you believed was your horse, was in fact me getting my atonement. Boruch Hashem today my sin is cleansed, and I was able to return to my original form”.
The gullible farmer swallowed the tall tale trustingly, and became at once devastated. “Oy, I feel terrible”, he cried, all these years that I beat you and whipped you, I had no idea that your really a person. I feel terrible about it”. Yossel tried to calm him, explaining that this was all Hashem’s decree, but the farmer remained mortified, and insisted on trying to make it up to him at least somewhat. So Yossel was invited into his house, and served a sumptuous meal, and then pressed to accept some money as a token of Yankel’s remorse.
When Yossel finally left, he decided that it was not a bad night of business after all; - he came away with a good meal and a nice sum of money. In addition he still had the 1st horse, which he proceeded to sell the next day to a horse dealer.
In the meantime, Yankel was still short a horse, and at the first opportunity he visited the horse dealer to get it replaced. He starts to look around, and, imagine his shock to find there none other than his own original horse!
At first he was flabbergasted, but when he got back his voice, he walked over to the horse, patted it on the back, and exclaimed: “Ferd Ferd, ein tog bizt du geven a mentch, un du bizt shoin gevoren tzurik a ferd??!!!” [Horse horse, for one day you were a mentch, and already you went back to being a horse!].
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