Once upon a time, there lived two boys who were not very smart. Both had trouble speaking, as they were slow at learning. But their parents didn’t give up and encouraged the children to listen carefully to what their friends said and repeat the words they heard. The boys kept the advice in mind and tried hard to learn to speak. During the day, they would hang around with their buddies outside. In the evening at home, they would tell their parents about the words they had picked up while mingling with their friends. In this way, they came to learn new words and phrases one by one.

One evening, one of the two boys was showing off the words he had learned that day in front of his father. When the father asked the boy if he had learned any new words, the boy confidently said in a loud voice, “Going around!” Of course, it was a phrase that the little boy heard from his friends.

But this simple phrase startled a thief outside. In fact, the robber sneaked into the house and was going around the yard, looking for something to steal. He wondered how the person inside the room knew what he was doing outside. To figure out exactly what was happening, the thief crawled on the floor slowly toward the room. Just then, a voice coming from the room said, “Crawling along.” Of course, the boy in the room was telling his father about another new phrase he remembered, but the robber didn’t know what was going on inside the room. Stunned again, he pierced a hole through the paper sliding door and looked in. At that very moment, he heard the same voice saying, “Right there, the eye!” The thief was completely taken aback and left the house quickly as he didn’t want to get caught.

The thief ran frantically and reached the neighboring village. He finally caught his breath and calmed down, trying not to recall the terrible experience in the previous village. Again, he began to snoop around a house, where, in fact, the other foolish boy lived. All the lights were out in the house, so the thief broke into the house without fear. The boy in the house was about to go to sleep, covering himself with a blanket. Suddenly, he remembered the words he had learned earlier that day. He decided to repeat the words once again so he wouldn’t forget them.

The first phrase he uttered was, “Walking with long strides.” This made the thief jump in surprise, as he was just striding across the yard. The terrified thief quickly hid himself in the kitchen. He sat there, without moving a hair, wondering if someone would come out of the room. But no one was visible and everything was silent. The thief was relieved. He thought to himself, ‘I guess I heard wrong. Someone in the house was probably talking in his sleep.’

Then, he looked around the kitchen and found a big pot on the stove. He opened the lid and saw sweet red-bean porridge inside. His mouth watered at the delicious smell. Feeling hungry, he touched the food with his finger and tasted it. At that point in time, the same voice came from the room. “Dipping the finger.” The thief was scared stiff. He was so frightened that he broke out in a cold sweat. All he could think about was that he should escape. While he was rushing out of the kitchen, he heard the same person saying, “Scurrying away.” The thief totally freaked out. He ran away as fast as his legs would carry him. From then on, the thief never hung around in the two “dreadful” villages.