Tale: Raman Fooled the Robbers

As the royal jester, Tenali Raman’s duties started early in the morning and often kept him busy until the king retired for the night. This left Raman with little time to tend to his personal affairs. One evening, as he was returning home late, he remembered that he needed to irrigate his agricultural land. Knowing it had to be done, even at midnight, he made his way to the field.

On reaching the land, Raman noticed two robbers hiding in the shadows. The robbers, unaware of Raman’s presence, were plotting to rob his house once he went to bed.

Raman quickly devised a clever plan. He called out to his wife, Mankamma, speaking loudly enough for the robbers to hear. “The country is fed up with the menace of robbers,” Raman said. “It is not safe to keep valuables like gold ornaments in the house. We must seal them in a box and bury it in the well. We can retrieve it when we need it after the well is dry.”

The robbers, overhearing this, imagined they could steal the valuables from the well. Eager for the loot, they waited for Raman and his wife to retire to bed.

Meanwhile, Raman and Mankamma sealed a box filled with a heavy stone and placed it into the well. Then, they pretended to sleep. The robbers, thinking they had found an easy target, began hauling water out of the well to retrieve the box.

But as they struggled to pull the box up, they realized it was far too heavy. Just then, Raman appeared at the scene. “Thank you for irrigating my land,” he said, knowing that the robbers had unwittingly done the work for him.

Ashamed and defeated, the robbers quickly fled the scene, realizing they had been outsmarted by Raman. They escaped, and Raman was able to complete his irrigation work without spending a single coin.

Moral:

Wit and intelligence can turn an unfortunate situation into a clever opportunity.