I have a book by Gianalberto Bendazzi called "Cartoons" and there's a short bit on Richard Williams. Oddly enough, it still mentions "Thief" is an adaptation of the Nasruddin stories, despite being a relatively new book.
I'm visiting my old home for the weekend, so I showed my mother the recobbled cut and she loved it! I'm just in awe of how everyone I've shown this to just falls in love with the film.