The merchant asked to see it, and he looked at the list, and said, “I have not got so much money in my box. If I have so much in my house it must really be yours.”
The Chief of the Police sent some men to bring the box to the station, and on counting the money in it, he found it was exactly the amount written in the promissory note. The woman, and the other robber, and the merchant who was tricked on the previous day were all present and listening, and were all astonished.
The Chief of the Police said, “Well, it must be the claimant’s money,” and he gave it to him.
The merchant was angry, so the robber said, “I suppose you will be saying next that the horse is yours, and the suit I am wearing”; and when the merchant angrily demanded them the robber requested the Chief of the Police to lock the man up, because he was now trying to steal his horse and clothes.
Then the merchant was locked up, and the robber left the money in the box at the Police Station, and rode off to his own home, where he met the woman and the first robber. He asked them, “How do you like that trick?”
She said, “A very clever man you are,” and she agreed to marry him.
After three days they both went to the merchant, and told him the whole story, and returned him the money, and the horse and clothes. And the merchant was so pleased to get them back that he gave them some money to live upon.
In Folk-Tales of Kashmir (Knowles), 2nd ed., p. 297 ff., two thieves had one wife, who agreed that she should belong only to the one who brought her the most valuable spoil in two days. The King executed her, as being the instigator of the robberies they committed.