The Thieves and the Moonlight
A group of thieves decide to rob a rich man one night when the moon is full. One thief listens at the skylight to hear if anyone inside is awake, and guessing what is happening, the man and his wife stage a conversation. Loudly, the rich man reveals that he stole all his great wealth by sneaking into houses through their skylights, using a magic spell that allows you to descend the moonlight like a ladder. He tells his wife the spell ("ulam, shulam, sulam" in Mischle Sendebar), and the thief, delighted, tells his companions. When the moon is high, they all climb to the skylight and say the spell - but they fall down to the floor, where the rich man and his wife beat them to death.
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Nishimura notes analogues and motif index parallels:
Motifs and Types: TMI K1054 Robber persuaded to climb down moonbeam; ATU 1341D The Thief and the Moonlight; TU4778 Thief and moonbeam.
Analogues: Kalila and Dimna, Introduction, 3 ‘The deceived light Believer’; Nasreddin Hoca Monogatari, p. 135 ‘When Hoca had slept in his room one night…’; Disciplina Clericalis, example 24 ‘The thief and the moonbeam’; Johannis de Capua, Directorium Humanae Vitae, 8 ‘Le père de famille, sa femme et le voleur crédule’; Gesta Romanorum, 136 ‘Der getäuschte Dieb’; Legrand d’Aussy, Anciens Fabliaux, 3, 253-255 ‘Du voleur qui voulut descendre sur un rayon de la lune’; The Book of Tales by A.B.C., 77(6); Pauli, Schimpf und Ernst, 628 ‘Am Monschein ließ sich einer ab’; Sachs, nr. 3530, ‘The Moonlight and the Thief’.
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| Fur et Luna appears in the following versions and secondary versions
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| Fur et Luna is narrated in the following occurrences
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| Fur et Luna appears in the following manuscripts
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