In the blink of an eye, several days passed within the inner palace. On the other hand, the bone-chilling, intense pain that had developed within Rupanjan—after all this time, under the supreme medical treatment and day-and-night care of the royal physician, all those wounds had healed completely. Now, physically, Rupanjan was thoroughly spirited, healthy, and completely fine. He had already proven his heroism during the first test, and now, gathering all the fire and intellect within his mind, he became absolutely prepared within himself to take the second test given by the Maharaja. The following morning, wrapping his heroic attire around his body, Rupanjan stepped out of his bedroom with thoroughly slow yet confident steps. He advanced straight toward the main court chamber of the royal palace, came right before the throne of the Maharaja, and, joining his hands with deep reverence, stood and said, "Maharaja, my body is completely fine now. Please administer that remaining second test of mine. I am prepared in every possible way."
The moment he heard such spirited and confident words from Rupanjan's mouth, along with beholding his fair, broad chest with his own two ears—that wise King sitting upon the throne scratched his beard a little bit with his hand and burst into a joyful laugh, "Hahaha!" Leaving the throne, descending with a royal gait, and placing one of his hands on Rupanjan's shoulder, he spoke out in a thoroughly delighted tone, saying, "Bravo! Bravo, re Rupanjan child, bravo! I see that by the force of your mental strength and heroism, you have overcome a formidable injury and recovered thoroughly well in a very few days; my own mind is also thoroughly pleased to see the form of such indomitable courage and heroism of yours, child! Very well, since you are standing here stating from your own mouth that you are so prepared—I will administer that grand second test of yours with my very own hands in just a little while today. However, yes, until I make all the arrangements and the grand secret preparations for that test with my own hands—you go to your room and rest a little bit in absolute peace until then, go! I will get everything thoroughly ready in just a little while and call for you with great honor through my royal guards, child; you go to your chamber now!"
Hearing such a joyful reassuring message from the Maharaja's mouth, Rupanjan bowed out of great joy, joining his hands again, and said, "As you command, Maharaja! Your order is borne upon my head. I shall then return to my bedroom for the time being and await your call." Saying this, Rupanjan departed toward his room with thoroughly slow steps. On the other hand, the moment Rupanjan left for the door of his room—the crafty King smiled a sly, devilish smile to play a massive game of intellect within his own mind. Without wasting a single second of time, he summoned his chief commander, and with a sudden jerk, had two ordinary men—who were thoroughly clever, cunning, and looked absolutely identical to each other—brought to the court from the secret lockup of the royal palace! Advancing before those two men, pulling his royal attire a bit, the Maharaja spoke in a thoroughly low and secret voice, saying, "O you two, open your ears thoroughly well and listen to a grand royal conspiracy of mine, let me see! Today, away from everyone in this royal palace, I have disguised you two as flat-out massive notorious thieves and stood you in this court; from now on, you two will be known in the eyes of everyone in this royal palace, and especially to that new heroic man Rupanjan, as flat-out 'famous thieves.' But do you know what the real task of you two is? Any one of you two shall perform the actual grand task of stealing with thorough cleverness! You two shall quietly enter inside that bedroom of Rupanjan right now by crawling along the tunnel path—and that grand cloth bag inside his room, within which Rupanjan has thoroughly carefully kept all his ornaments, money, and essential documents—you shall steal that pouch with a sudden jerk of your hands and come to this main chamber of mine in a single bound! You shall perform this task exactly when Rupanjan is away from his room! And when Rupanjan returns and sees that his pouch has been stolen—he will then look toward you two and find out with his discerning intellect exactly who the real thief is between you two—that is, despite both of you being thieves, exactly which thief actually touched his bag with his own hands and stole it away! This is what I will prove today to test his intellect. Now, I want to see with my own eyes—whether the heroic man Rupanjan can use his head to catch the real thief from between you two in a single second and pass this test of mine or not! Go, you two, get ready right now!"
The moment he heard such a plot of thievery and a strange test from the Maharaja's mouth—that first man disguised as a thief became thoroughly frightened, scratched his head a little bit, and, trembling deeply, said in a low voice, "O Maharajmoshai, we can perform the task of stealing alright, but the light of day is completely bright and shining now, go! Is Rupanjan's bedroom actually completely empty now, go Maharaja? Are there no royal guards or servants sitting hidden even the slightest bit inside his room or around it? If he is sitting all alone inside his room—then the moment we enter through the tunnel, he will see us in a single second with his own heroic eyes and bring down that head of ours with a single stroke of his sword, go Maharaja! Then our very lives will vanish into thin air, go!"
Hearing such terror-stricken words from the mouth of the thief, the wise King stroked his white mustache a bit with his hand and, wearing a thoroughly clever smile, said, "Hahaha! O you two flat-out foolish thieves, do not harbor even the slightest bit of fear within your minds—he is going to take rest inside his room now, it is true, but wait—using my royal intellect and a grand tactic, I am calling that Rupanjan out from his own room right now on the pretext of thoroughly necessary matters. And while he stands talking with me in the corridor of the court—you shall seize that grand opportunity of the empty tunnel with your own hands and perform that task of stealing from his room in a single minute! However, yes, exactly who among you two will truly perform the grand sinful task of stealing today—settle that among yourselves in a single second right now!"