Tenali Raman and the Thieves

It was the middle of summer in Vijayanagara. The days were hot, and the nights were dry. The wells were drying up, and everyone was worried about water for their gardens—except for Tenali Raman.

Tenali had a beautiful garden in his backyard with mango trees, brinjal plants, and flowering jasmines. But his plants were thirsty, and drawing water from the deep well was hard work.

One dark night, Tenali was resting on his cooling porch when he noticed some movement in the bushes near his garden fence. He peered closely and saw three dark shadows.

“Thieves!” he thought. “They are waiting for us to sleep so they can rob the house.”

Tenali did not panic. Instead, he formed a clever plan. He went back inside and spoke loudly to his wife, knowing the thieves were listening.

“My dear,” he said in a voice that carried to the garden, “have you heard? There are many thieves prowling the city these days. It is not safe to keep our jewelry and gold coins in the cupboard.”

“What shall we do then?” asked his wife, who was confused because they didn’t really have much gold.

Tenali winked at her and whispered the plan. Then he said loudly, “I have put all our valuables in the big iron trunk. Let us drop it into the well for safety. No thief would ever think to look underwater!”

The thieves outside smiled at each other. “What a foolish man!” they whispered. “He is doing our work for us.”

Tenali and his wife filled an old iron trunk with heavy stones from the garden. They dragged it noisily to the backyard. “One, two, three, heave!” shouted Tenali. SPLASH! The heavy trunk hit the water and sank to the bottom.

“There,” said Tenali loudly. “Now our treasure is safe. Let us go to sleep.”

They went inside and blew out the lamps.

The thieves waited for an hour. When the house was quiet, they crept to the well. They looked down. It was deep and dark. “We need to get the trunk out,” said the leader. “But we can’t dive in. The well is too deep.” “Let’s draw the water out!” suggested another. “If we empty the well, we can reach the treasure.”

So, the thieves found two buckets and began to work. Creak, splash, pour. Creak, splash, pour. They pulled up bucket after bucket of water. Since they didn’t want to waste the water (and make a muddy mess near the well), they poured it into the nearby irrigation channels.

The water flowed into the flower beds. It flowed to the mango trees. It soaked the brinjal plants. The thieves worked all night. Their backs ached, and their hands were blistered. By the time the sun began to rise, the well was almost dry, and Tenali’s entire garden was freshly watered and looking green and happy.

The thieves finally saw the trunk at the bottom. The leader climbed down and tied a rope to it. They hauled it up, panting with effort. “We are rich!” they cried. They broke the lock and threw open the lid. Inside, they found… stones. Big, heavy, useless garden stones.

Just then, Tenali Raman walked out of his house, stretching his arms. “Good morning, friends!” he called out cheerfully. “Thank you so much for watering my garden. You worked very hard all night. Should I pay you a few coins for your labor?”

The thieves realized they had been tricked. Ashamed and exhausted, they scrambled over the fence and ran away, never to bother Tenali again.

Moral of the Story: With presence of mind, you can turn even a difficult situation to your advantage.

Moral of the Story: Presence of mind can turn a problem into an advantage.