A gang of thieves was ransacking every house in the Vijayanagara kingdom. The city chief was troubled as his guards were unable to catch the thieves. He sought Tenali Rama’s help to put the gang of thieves behind bars. Rama agreed to help. The next day, Rama told his wife to spread a rumor that they have a bag of gold coins at home. The news spread like wildfire. The thieves too got to hear of it, and they decided to rob Rama’s house. One night, when Tenali Rama and his wife were retiring to sleep, he heard leaves rustling in their backyard. Since there was no breeze, he understood that the thieves had come to rob their house. So, he raised his voice and told his wife, “My dear, I heard that there is a gang of thieves on the loose. Let’s put all our wealth in a big box and drop it in the well. It will be safe underwater.” Rama and his wife pretended to do so and sleep. The thieves went to the well and began talking to each other. One of the thieves asked, “The box seems to be big and quite heavy. How do we get it out?” Their leader said, “Let’s drain all the water from the well, then we can easily get down and lift the box.” Everyone agreed to this and started to drain the water from the well. It took them the whole night, and they were utterly exhausted. When they finally got hold of the box, they were stunned to see only stones and rocks in it. Before they could come out of the shock, they heard Rama’s voice. All of them turned around and found him saying, “Thank you, companions, for watering my plants, I should pay you for your hard work.” As they turned to run away, the city chief’s guards came in and captured the gang. The story of how Tenali Rama caught the thieves was the talk of the town for days.
Moral of the story:
We can overcome any trouble if we do not lose our cool and put our brains to work.
