In Regensburg there was a mighty duke who was a friend of the Jews, and whenever he went away he entrusted the keys of all his treasures to a Jew. (Some people say it was R. Ephraim and others say it was R. Samuel.) One day the duke went away and gave the keys to the rabbi so that he might take good care of his treasures, as he had done before.

One night nine thieves broke into the duke's treasury and took away as much as they could carry. Some of the thieves lived in the city, and the others were burghers of the locality. In the morning, the rabbi went to the treasury, as was his custom, to see that everything was in order, and when he entered the vault he found very little left, for they had taken everything away. When he saw this, he was seized with great fear, as one can easily imagine, and went to R. Judah, the Pious, and asked his advice as to what he should do to recover the money, for when the duke came home he might suspect him of the theft and he might lose his life. And he cried and wept most bitterly, as one can well imagine.

Then R. Judah, the Pious, said to him: "Come with me." And he took him to the window and said to him: "Look through the window and do as I tell you."

Rabbi Judah pronounced certain mystical names of God and then asked the rabbi: "What do you see now?"

The window was very high and one could see far out into the country.

The rabbi replied: "I see that the room in which we are has been raised up very high and I can see over all the roofs in the town."

Then the pious man said again: "What do you see now?"

The rabbi replied: "I see the thieves carrying the stolen property in their hands."

Then the pious man said to him: "Watch carefully and see where they put the property."

The rabbi replied: "I see that they are trying to conceal the money under the ground, but it seems to me they are taking it out again and behaving as if they did not know where to put it."

Then the pious man said to the rabbi: "Do not lose sight of them, and see where they are taking the stolen property."

Then the rabbi said: "Now they are taking the stolen property to a blacksmith's. Some of them have engaged the smith in conversation so that he should not see what the others are doing, while the others are burying the property in a stable and covering it with dung."

Then the pious man' said: "Have you seen exactly where they put the stolen property and do you know exactly where the house is? Observe the place carefully so that you may know how to get there. And now take heart, for they cannot carry the stolen things any farther, and do exactly as I tell you. When the duke comes home, fall at his feet and ask for grace. Then tell him what has happened."

The rabbi did as the pious man had ordered him. He waited until the duke returned home, then he fell at his feet and spoke to him as the pious man had ordered him.

The duke said: "Rise and tell me of your trouble, I will be merciful."

Then he told the duke all the circumstances of the theft.

The duke asked him: "Can you tell me how many thieves there were and who they were and whence they came and whether there were among them citizens of our town?"

The rabbi replied: "My gracious lord, I know them all very well and I also know where they have put the stolen property."

The duke said: "My dear master, if you know where the stolen property is, take a sufficient number of my men with you, recover the property and put it in the place where it was before."

The rabbi replied: "No, my dear sir, first have these men arrested and brought to trial. And if they confess the theft, let them receive the punishment they deserve, for if they are allowed to escape this time, they will do the same thing again tomorrow and you will never be safe from them, for they are mighty burghers of the town."

The duke said: "My dear master, you are right, and we will punish the thieves as they deserve and no more. Tell me who they are."

The rabbi named them one by one.

The duke sent for all the townspeople as well as the thieves. (For there were a few townspeople among the thieves, and they did not suspect the reason why the duke had sent for them, but if the duke had sent only for the thieves, the guilty townsmen would have suspected the reason and might have escaped.) When they had all come to the duke, he said to the rabbi: "Take as many of my men as you need and bring the money here secretly. I will detain the people here without their suspecting anything and then we will confront them with the facts of the case."

The rabbi took some of the duke's men with him and brought back the stolen property to the duke.

Then the duke said to the people: "Those scoundrels among you who have committed the theft stand together! for I know that some of you are guilty of theft."

The thieves who were guilty did not know what to say, and it became clear who they were. Then the duke told the other townspeople to pronounce judgment upon the thieves, for they had sworn to be faithful to him in all things and now they had broken their solemn oath. The thieves had broken into his vault and stolen the property.

"Moreover," he said, "they wanted me to accuse my court Jew of the crime because I entrust him with all my property."

The thieves were sentenced to be hanged on the gallows and the sentence was carried out. But the Jew was saved from death. And thus the verse of Scripture is confirmed: "The pious man is saved from evil and the wicked one takes his place" (Prov. 11.8), as happened in this story.