The Hoja and the Thief (1950s)

[Music] here is a window in your own village perhaps or in a nearby town if only we could look inside ah thank you that is much better now we don't have to guess at all for this is obviously our favorite coffee house harid the young radical is sitting alone instead of with our friends borhan and the wise Shake but what is the news they are so anxious to hear it must be very important if harid is stopped talking listen about the fighting which has just broken out in another Asian country disorder and panic are sweeping the capital city as government officials Flee for their lives from the wild gunfire of the heavily armed Rebels there can be no doubt that these Rebels are being reinforced by a certain power ah the government of that country was no God it is high time they were thrown out of office coming over Northern borders and spraying the roads with machine gun bullets as thousands of helpless people flee the cities earlier today it was made known from the north that a certain they deserve it all the people of that country live in a rotten Society A revolution is the only path to progress it's too bad we can't turn you off with a click of the switch what appeared to start as rioting against the traditional government by a small radical party has now turned into armed Warfare on a full scale directed by foreign military officials and supported by the powerful war machines of the country to the north this is progress not War I know harid whoever resists the coming of new radical governments must be pushed to died the people are to blame for resisting progress and so is their rotten government which permits such out ofd ideas as religion private business and different political parties amid are you blaming this violence on the very government and people who are being attacked who else could possibly be to blame perhaps these outside Powers who have been trying to spread their r Medical Way of Life by any means are the ones we should blame for all this killing and violence I look where the trouble is for the cause not in outside countries ahuh I see you would let the thief Run free to do more damage the thief offendy yes I was remembering a story about nasaden HOA a thief and some villagers who did not put blame where it was due listen harid there is a lesson in this story for you one soft summer night long ago the Silvery Moon beams that played among the Shadows were not the only visitors in nasaden hoa's village [Music] on this particular night nazarine was halfway through a most enjoyable dream when he woke himself up and called to his wife quick woman my spectacles I want my spectacles answering his wife's angry protest the hoer explained I'm having a beautiful dream and I must see one or two things more clearly but by now the haer's dream was gone and the only thing he could see clearly was the face of a thief [Music] help Thief I've been robbed there's a thief in the village stop him stop the thief help help Thief I've been robbed help outside the haer's house the villagers finally learned the sad news nasar adin's donkey had been stolen but instead of sympathizing with him his neighbors grew more and more indignant come now HOA was your door locked ha look at that what you expect when you don't have an iron bolt on your door a second villager was even more incensed you call yourself a wise man you do not teach your donkey to Brave when a thief approaches anyone can learn to bra heha this was by no means the end of their advice H just as I thought why didn't you build a bigger and stronger fence around your donkey hota this one would blow down in a stiff breeze [Music] by this time nasar rine was both confused and unhappy his precious donkey was gone and all he heard was criticism another thing hota not only should you have put a strong lock on the courtyard door you should have known enough to take the key to bed every night and hide it under your pillow this was the last straw cutting the villagers short the hota invited them to leave his house at [Music] once watching them go the hoer had a final word of advice for them you tell me about a better luck a stronger fence my do he trained to sound an alarm and what to do with the key and you blame these things on me the victim but what about the thief isn't he to blame at all before they could answer the villagers learned that each of them too had been robbed in the night while they had been busy lecturing nasar Adine forgetting the HOA the villagers fled back to their own homes but his wife words rang out after them what about the thief isn't he to blame isn't the thief to blame Hamid is not listening what a shame the most ignorant are the last to learn but we are all wiser now when we hear a free Nations suddenly exploding in Revolution people are well aware that the foreign power which gives weapons to local radicals will demand in return that these same radicals and Partyline followers come to rule when the fighting is ended yes Boran this is a great power expanding violently no matter how they try to disguise it as local revolutions but as long as we know enough to put the blame for outbreaks of violence where the blame is due we can protect ourselves from the true danger this is what the simple lesson of nasaden HOA means to us today [Music] [Music]