Note 2 — IV. THE CLEVER THIEF.1

The thief thought, “I shall be acting badly if I do not throw my uncle’s bones into the Ganges.” So he assumed the appearance of a Kāpālika,2 went to the place where the corpse had been burnt, smeared his body with ashes, filled a skull with bones and ashes, flung it into the Ganges, and then went his way. When the king had been told by his men all that had happened, he said, “O friends, this was really the thief. Ye have acted wrongly in not laying hands upon him. In order to bring the matter to an end, do ye let it alone. I will lay hands on the man myself.”