A boy named "Love" lived in the forest with his father Lew and his mother Ann.
They had a good life, Lew plowed fields and Ann tended to the house while Love played in the fields, climbed trees and did chores.
They didn't have much and even less to spare but they had each other and unequaled happiness.
Before bed at night, Lew, Ann and Love would sing songs,laugh and play, till bed time.
Late one night ,as they slept, Gambidini came upon their little house in the woods.
Gambidini was a villainous thief but not your usual villainous thief as you are about to see.
Gambidini carried a fine leather pouch when he went about his thieving and he was carrying it the night he entered through the trusting unlocked front door.
Gambidini made his way into the bedroom where where Love and his parents were sleeping.
Ever so quietly, Gambidini
put down his fine leather pouch and removed the contents. You might expect that a thief would have a gun in the pouch or a knife or maybe a set of screwdrivers or even rope, but instead, Gambidini remover a solid gold piggy bank and a bottle of the finest French perfume. I told you he was a different kind of thief.
Gambidini than placed the piggy bank and the perfume on the nightstand, picked up his leather pouch and headed out, back into the night.
Well you can imagine how surprised the family was when they awoke in the morning and found these two obviously expensive objects on the night stand.
After a long discussion and while Love was playing outside, Lew and Ann had a serious discussion, concluding that the objects must be gifts. After further discussion they decided to sell he objects...just to have a little more than they need.
After a few weeks, Gambadini paid them another visit and again they awoke to what looked like the same piggy bank and the same fine French perfume.
Again they considered it a gift and they sold them too.
Now they were able to have even more. Love continued to get his joy by exploring the fields and climbing the trees and doing chores.
Week after week the same thing happened... for a year or more, at which point Lew and Ann didn't discuss it but were busy buying and selling as Love stayed busy in the fields, up and down the trees and doing his chores.
At some point in time Lew and Ann had heard and realized that this was happening throughout the forest till every body had more than they needed.
Remember my saying that Gambidini was not your average thief? Well, his trap had been set.
One day Gambadini put a call out to all the forest that he wanted everyone to come to the lake for a meeting.
At the meeting, while Love and the other kids played, Gambidini gathered the parents together to make an announcement.
Gambadini than proceeded to tell them that he was the one who left the expensive gifts on their night stands but he could no longer do it.
You have to understand that by this time, everyone had bank payments for the loans they had bought with some of "their"money.
Everyone gasp realizing that they were facing "financial ruin" without Gambidini's help.
But alas Gambidini to the rescue as he interrupted their concerns by offering everyone in the forest a job in the city where he assured them they would have enough work to buy their own gold piggy banks and is they both worked, he continued, they could even afford the fine French perfume.
Upon return home Lew and Ann had a long discussion and concluded that they had no choice otherwise, with the loans and all they would be left with less than they needed. So, they went to see Gambidini at his place on the Lake
and stood in line with the other folks who were accepting and thanking Gambidini for his generous offer of jobs.
So after selling their house in the forest off to the city they went.
Of course Love went along because after all, mom and dad know best.
They had to rent of course after arriving in the city because the houses were too expensive.
Shortly after moving in Lew and Ann headed to work each day and Love remained behind to do the chores because there were no fields to play in and no trees to climb.
With each day Lew and Ann felt better and better about their "financial situation" but Love grew sadder and sadder...Love grew so sad that one day after his chores he took a small piece of paper upon which he had written "GAMBIDINI IS A THIEF IN THE NIGHT!" and he placed it on the night stand next to Lew and Ann's bed.
Love than laid back on the bed and died of a broken heart.
When Loves parents came home, they found Love in their bed...Dead.
To this day, neither Lew or Ann understood the not their son left nor the reason Love had died.
All they knew was that at Love's funeral, Gambidini was the first to offer them his condolences as he pulled a tissue from his fine leather pouch handing it to Ann while saying,"If there is anything I can do, anything at all, just let me know, I'd be happy to help!..The End
LaLePop'
