The old man replied, "He is sending his soldiers out to look for the
thief."
That night, after the professor had gone, the youth dressed up as a
soldier, and went out and met the soldiers of the Sultan looking for the
thief.
He said to them, "That is not the way to look for a thief. The way to
look for a thief is to sit down very quietly in a place, and then
perhaps you will see or hear him."
So he brought them all to one place and made them sit down, and one by
one they all fell asleep. When they were all asleep he took their
weapons and all their clothes he could carry and came with them to his
house.
Next day, when the professor came, he asked him the news, and he said,
"Last night the Sultan sent his soldiers out to look for the thief and
behold, the thief stole their arms and their clothes, so that they
returned naked."