What values do Aram and Mourad reflect in their character?

In William Saroyan's short story entitled "The Summer of the Beautiful White Horse," Aram and Mourad come from a family that is best known for its honesty. Aram speaks of the Garoghlanian family being famous for honesty for eleven centuries. The values of the family are clearly spelled out by Aram in this statement:

Our whole tribe was poverty-stricken. Every branch of the Garoghlanian family was living in the most amazing and comical poverty in the world. Nobody could understand where we ever got money enough to keep us with food in our bellies, not even the old men of the family. Most important of all, though, we were famous for our honesty. We had been famous for our honesty for something like eleven centuries, even when we had been the wealthiest family in what we liked to think was the world. We were proud first, honest next, and after that we believed in right and wrong. None of us would take advantage of anybody in the world, let alone steal.

The values that Aram and Mourad display through their actions are a little different from the family values. If thievery is a spectrum, then Aram and Mourad are certainly on the most agreeable side of the spectrum. They undoubtedly steal the white horse. In their minds, they don't consider it stealing because they have every intention of returning the horse to its rightful owner at an unspecified time in the future. They are gentle thieves, though, because when they do return the horse, the farmer is amazed at the horse's condition.

That afternoon John Byro came to our house in his surrey and showed my mother the horse that had been stolen and returned. I do not know what to think, he said. The horse is stronger than ever. Better-tempered, too. I thank God.

It's my assertion that Aram and Mourad believe in the family values of honesty, right and wrong, and never stealing. They simply interpret these values differently than many of the family members would have. In their minds, it isn't stealing—remember the family is proud first—because they both deeply desire to have a horse. They always knew they would return the horse to its rightful owner. They never intended to keep the horse for themselves, though they could possibly have done so. After all, they are able to hide the horse for six months. In Aram and Mourad's minds, they are borrowing the horse. For a period of time, they are able to pretend it is their own. That is the most important thing to them, in my estimation. They don't ask John Byro because they don't want to merely ride the horse once or twice. They wanted to feel that the horse belongs to them. It is a desire born out of their shared love of horses, and a dream they could never achieve honestly because of their abject poverty.