While a Thief was out robbing other people’s homes one night, another Thief robbed his home in turn. He stole all the food he could find, but left many a valuable pile of stolen goods untouched. When the first Thief returned home, he had nothing to eat. Before he went out the following night, he left a message: “You fool, I almost starved this morning!” When he returned home before dawn, he found another message on top of his own: “Sorry, my foolish mistake!” The only thing he found in the house was a loaf of bread. All the piles of stolen goods had disappeared without a trace.

From Aesop’s Fables, translated by George Fyler Townsend, Collins Classics, London: Harper Press, 2011, p. 325.