Tenali Raman and the Cat

The Kingdom of Vijayanagara faced a very strange problem once. There were too many rats! They were everywhere—nibbling on sacks of grain, chewing through clothes, and squeaking in the kitchens.

King Krishnadevaraya wanted to solve this problem quickly. He announced a unique plan. “Every household in the city will be given a cat,” he declared. “And to make sure the cats are strong enough to catch rats, I will also give each house a cow to provide milk for the cat.”

The people were happy. They took the cats and the cows. The King ordered a strict rule: “You must feed the cat a full bowl of milk every morning. I will inspect them in one month.”

Tenali Raman also received a cat and a cow. But as usual, Tenali had a different way of thinking. He knew that if a cat is full of milk, it becomes lazy and sleeps all day. It will never catch rats!

So, on the very first day, Tenali poured the milk into a bowl. But he made sure the milk was steaming hot. He placed it before the cat. The hungry cat ran to the bowl and eagerly dipped its tongue in.

“Meow!” cried the cat, jumping back. The milk was too hot! It had given its tongue a little scorch. It wasn’t badly hurt, but it was very frightened. It ran away and hid under the bed.

Tenali let the milk cool down and offered it again, but the cat, remembering the heat, refused to come near it. From that day on, whenever Tenali offered milk, the cat would run away. So, the cat drank only water and ate… well, it had to hunt rats to fill its tummy!

As a result, Tenali’s cat became lean, mean, and an expert rat hunter. It cleared Tenali’s house of rats in no time.

One month later, the King went around the city for inspection. In every house, he saw fat, lazy cats sleeping on silk pillows. They had drunk so much milk that they couldn’t even run! The rats were still running around happily.

Then the King came to Tenali’s house. He saw Tenali’s cat—lean, alert, and active. “Tenali!” shouted the King. “This cat looks thin! Have you not been feeding it the milk I gave you?”

“Your Majesty,” bowed Tenali. “I tried! But this is a very strange cat. It refuses to drink milk! It is a spiritual cat.”

“Liar!” roared the King. “All cats love milk. I will prove it.” He ordered a soldier to bring a bowl of delicious, cool milk. He placed it in front of the cat.

The cat took one look at the bowl, remembered the hot steam from the first day, and ran away as fast as it could!

The King was baffled. “I have never seen a cat run from milk,” he muttered.

Tenali smiled. “Your Majesty, luxury makes us lazy. The other cats are so well-fed they have forgotten their duty. My cat, having ‘rejected’ the easy life, has been working hard and has caught all the rats.”

The King understood Tenali’s lesson. He laughed and realized that spoon-feeding (or bowl-feeding) doesn’t always lead to the best results. He stopped the milk scheme, and the cats of the kingdom soon went back to their jobs.

Moral of the Story: Too much comfort can make us lazy; a little struggle keeps us sharp.

Moral of the Story: A burnt child dreads the fire.