Neocheating, an Underfable

          Neocheating

          Once upon a time, Robin Hood wearied of petty philanthropic banditry. Too small and too risky; he wanted something both grander and safer. He decided to Neocheat.

So one dark night he and his Merry Men broke into the Sheriff’s treasury and stripped it bare. Then they snuck into Nottingham and pushed money under every peasant’s front door, keeping none for themselves.

          The Sheriff was furious when he saw where all his money had gone, but he didn’t know whom to behead. Certainly none of the peasants; they didn’t do the deed, they’d soon lose that money anyhow, and the Sheriff needed them alive to exploit. He suspected Robin Hood, but also a dozen other political rivals; so he seethed and he did nothing but wait for the money’s inevitable return to the top.

          But during that money’s inevitable rise, it changed hands many times; and each exchange was for a trade; and each trade made Nottingham wealthier. During that economic boom, Robin Hood dealt shrewdly but fairly with the people, and so made an honest fortune.

 He was never accused of any crime, nor ever caught or punished.

          Moral: The most sublime act is to set another before you.

          Comment: The Moral is from William Blake's “Proverbs of Hell”. There it sounds conventional, but here it describes an untraceable scam.