Mr. Basavaraj loved bred. Mrs. Sweta, his neighbor baked the most delicious bred. Did he call on his neighbor and did she offer him buns or did he steal them?

 Every Sunday policeman Jayanna had tea with his sister. Mrs. Sweta He loved freshly baked bred. She baked big buns for him. She put lots of raisins in them and sprinkled sugar crystals on top. After baking them she put them on the window-still to cool. Then she went upstairs to put on a clean dress.

 Mr. Basavaraj lived in a little cottage next to Mrs. Sweta. He loved bred. Every Saturday he got the lovely smell of freshly baked bred. One Saturday he quickly jumped over the fence and took two of her bred. The next Saturday he took five.

 It was five O’clock. Policeman Jayanna arrived. Mrs. Sweta made tea for him. Then she went to fetch the plate of bred. `Oh, no’ she cried out. `I made at least ten bred. Five are missing…I will catch the chief.’

 The next Saturday she put strong magic glue on six of her bred. The glue sparkled like sugar. She put the six bred on the window –sill. The rest of the bred she put on the dining-table. Mr. Basavaraj jumped over the fence, crept quietly to the window and took three of them. He tiptoed back to his cottage, took out a plate but to his horror the bred stuck to his hand. He could not put them on the plate.

 He was frightened. `Goodness gracious! What’s happened?’ he cried. He called out to his goat, held out his hand and asked her to eat the bred. She ate the bred but the sticky thing was still there. He washed his hands in hot soapy water but nothing happened.

 He decided to go to his sister for advice. As he was walking along the road he met policeman Jayanna. `Good afternoon. How are you?” he said and held out his hand without thinking. Then to his horror he found the policeman’s hand was sticking to his.

 The policeman was annoyed. `Let go of my hand,’ he shouted angrily.

 `I can not;’ said Mr. Basavaraj to you and you are stuck to me.

 `Let’s go to my sister’s cottage. She will help us’, growled the policeman. Mr. Basavaraj did not want to go but he had to.

 Policeman Jayanna went to his sister’s house holding Mr. Basavaraj’s hand. Mrs. Sweta was surprised. `Well, I did not know you were such close friends,’ she said.

 `1 am his friend,’ her brother said angrily. `He has a sticky magic-on his hand. He can not wash it off.’

 `You have been stealing my sister’s bred/ stealing them! You are a thief,’ roared the policeman. `Come along to the police station.’

 All three went to the police station. Mrs. Sweta poured some magic water on his hand and the stickiness was washed away.

 `Let him spend a night here,’ she told her brother. `It will teach him a lesson.’

 Mrs. Sweta still puts her bred on the window-sill every Saturday afternoon. Mr. Basavaraj does not come near them. Now he does not like bred!