Rip-Offs.

A Chinese Allegory:

Long ago in a land far away there lived a very poor couple. They had nothing except a one roomed shack to live in and a raised platform for sleeping on. One evening the husband was awoken by an intruder. There’s a thief in our house he thought, but as there was nothing to steal, he kept quiet so as not to disturb his wife or risk confrontation. And when the would-be thief laid his quilted coat on the floor ready to receive any valuables and moved around the room searching, he reached down and silently pulled the thief’s coat into the bed. The thief wasn’t quiet enough though, and the wife awoke saying loudly; “husband husband there’s a thief in the room”. The husband responded immediately with “wife of mine we have nothing to steal so there’s no thief in here, to which the intruder responded ; “then who stole my coat ?”