Tenali Raman, deep in thought, was walking down a road near the palace when he bumped into a man. The man got very angry and began to curse and shout at Tenali Raman. “Do you know who I am?” he screamed, “I am the king’s Advisor!” “That is nice,” said Tenali Raman, “As for me […]
One day, a zebra found a bathroom scale. He was quite amused to see it. He asked his friend, the parrot, about it. The parrot knew about the bathroom scale. He explained the working of the scale to the zebra. Immediately, the zebra stood on the weighing scale to weigh himself. It became a fun
One day, Tenali met an acquaintance in the street. The man looked worried and Tenali asked him what was troubling him. “I have this terrible dream,” said the man, “Every night I dream there’s a monster hiding under the bed. When I get up and look there’s no one but I can’t sleep afterwards. I
Once upon a time, dolphins, whales and many other small colourful fish lived in the sea. The dolphins and the small fish were very good friends. One day, the whales started harming the small fish. This made the dolphins angry and they started fighting with the whales. It looked as if the fight would never
One day, Raman’s neighbour asked him to write a letter for him. “To whom do you want to write?” asked Raman. “To my friend in Baghdad,” said the man. “Sorry,” said Raman, “I have no time to go to Baghdad.” “Who is asking you to go to Baghdad?” asked his neighbour. “All I want you
One evening, Tenali Raman’s wife saw her husband walking up and down the verandah in great anxiety. “What’s the matter?” she asked him. “I borrowed a hundred dinars from our neighbour last month and I promised to return the money on the last day of this month,” explained Raman, “Tomorrow is the last day and
One day, two men came running to Raman’s house. “What’s the matter?” asked Raman. “A man resembling you was knocked down by a cart in the market,” they said,“We thought it was you and came to inform your wife.” “Was he of my height?” asked Raman . “Yes,” said the men. “Did he have a
Long ago, it was so hot that water was found only in a few small ponds throughout the forest. A baboon lived near one such pond. He chased away all animals saying, “Nobody is allowed to drink water from this pond. This water belongs to me.” He also lit a fire close to the pond
Tenali Raman had a buffalo whose horns were set wide apart. Raman often felt an urge to sit on the animal’s head between the horns, but never dared try it. One day the animal came and sat down very near him. Raman threw caution to the winds and seizing the horns swung himself into the
Tenali Raman went to a tailor with a piece of cloth and asked the tailor to stitch him a shirt. The tailor took his measurements. “When will it be ready?” Tenali asked the tailor.“God willing, it’ll be ready in a week’s time,” said the man. Raman could hardly wait for the week to pass. On
Tenali Raman ferrying a scholar across a river said something ungrammatical to him. “Have you never studied grammar?” asked the scholar. “No,” said Raman. “Then half your life has been wasted,” said the scholar looking scornfully at him. Sometime later Raman turned to his passenger. He said to him that the river was in spate.
King Krishnadeva Raya was very fond of jewellery. His favourite ring was the one with a large diamond at the centre and pearls around. At the emperor’s palace, there were eight servants who looked after his clothes and jewellery. They also helped him get ready to go to the court. No one else was allowed
Tenali Raman had grown a huge papaya in his garden. It was the biggest papaya anybody had ever seen and Tenali was very proud of it. One day, the king of the country who was touring the country in disguise, arrived there and was fascinated by the papaya. “Will you give it to me?” the
A barber borrowed a large sum of money from Tenali. One day, Raman went to the barber’s house when he was entertaining guests and demanded the money. The barber, embarrassed, promised to come to his place the next day with the money. Next day, the barber way laid Tenali on a deserted stretch of road
Once king Krishnadeva Raya sent a message to the ruler of a neighbouring country. The message read, “Send me a blue diamond as large as a pigeon’s egg or else.” The king on getting the message wrote back: “We don’t have such a diamond and if we had…” The first king got very angry and