Tenali Rama and the gangs of thieves
Long time ago, there used to be a kingdom named Vijayanagara in the south of India. The king of that state used to be Krishnadevaraya. There was also a minister named Tenali Rama in his court.
There have been many incidents of theft in Vijayanagar in those days. King Krishnadevaraya was worried about thieves. Everyone in the court including Tenali Rama looked worried! That evening when he (Tenali Rama) came back to his house from the court, he saw two figures hiding behind the big mango tree near the well in his garden. English short story | An old man –
Now he had come to know very well that these are thieves from no one else but there. He thought of teaching the right lesson to those thieves. On reaching home, he started talking loudly with his wife, so that those thieves could hear their words.
What he was saying to his wife: “… it is not safe to keep our jewelry at home. Please fill our iron trunk with your jewels and they will drop them down the well for safekeeping!”
Hearing these things, the robbers chuckled at the idea of a fool’s plan. He felt that this Tenali Rama was such a foolish person. And then Tenali Rama whispered to his wife that the thieves were hiding in the garden. While there he asks to fill the trunk with stones and utensils.
Once the trunk was full, Tenali Rama and his wife dragged the trunk down the well. “It will be safe here!” he said loudly to his wife.
Both the thieves were waiting for the people in the house to sleep. He had a plan! Each robber started drawing water from the well in turn.
His enthusiasm soon turned to fatigue and he decided to take a break. Then someone nearby said: “That’s it! The garden is watered, you’ve done a good job for the day! Now I will not need to water the garden”.
When the robbers looked here and there, they saw Tenali Rama holding a shovel and a stick behind him. They were shocked to see her, they got up and ran away! After some time, the people of Vijayanagar did not complain of any plunder.
learning
We get to learn from this story that in any odd situation it is better to remain calm and find a solution to a problem.
