Chapter-6 The old tree saw and heard a good many little scenes and confidences that summer, because it became the favorite retreat of all the children, and the willow seemed to enjoy it, for a pleasant welcome always met them, and the quiet hours spent in its arms did them all good. It had a […]
A man was caught stealing a bag of onions and taken to king Krishna-deva Raya. The king gave him a choice of three punishments eat the onions he had stolen at one sitting; submit to a hundred lashes of the whip or pay a fine. The man said he would eat the onions. He began
One day, all Brahmins, decided that there was no point in all of them worrying about their various problems. “Let us appoint a Worry Man; somebody who will worry for all of us,” said the senior Brahmin. Everybody hailed it as a great idea. When one of the elders suggested that Tenali Raman, the cobbler,
A rich landowner was on his deathbed. Gasping for breath, he told his three sons to dig under his bed when he was gone, and saying that, gave up the ghost. Some days later, the sons dug at the spot and unearthed three pots, placed one above the other. The topmost pot contained mud; the
One day, Tenali Raman was going to his sister’s house in another village when he ran into a gang of dacoits. “Who are you?” asked the dacoit chief, glowering at him. “I’m a school teacher,” said the Raman.“A school teacher?” sneered the chief. “And do you test your students regularly?” “Yes,” said Raman.“Well,” said the
Early one morning, a huge block of ice appeared in the middle of the jungle. It was as tall as a tree and as huge as an elephant. It was extremely cold. All the animals thought that it had some treasure inside it. A huge hullaballoo was created. The king of the jungle, the lion,
Once Tenali was expecting a visit of his old friend. He gave two ripe mangoes to his servant. He asked him to slice them and serve the fruit when the man came. The servant gave in to temptation and ate all the slices. Suddenly, he saw the man, his master was expecting, coming towards the
King Krishnadeva once expressed the opinion that scholars were the cleverest men in his kingdom. Tenali, the Court Jester, immediately told that businessman were cleverer. A few days later Raman called a scholar to the palace. Raman told him that the king wanted his moustache and asked him for his price. The scholar, overjoyed, asked
Once there was a lion who could not roar at all. He was unable to roar since birth. There was no one who could teach him or tell him that lions always roared. So, he learnt to talk softly with everyone. Once, the lion was very annoyed with a pig. He wanted to roar at
Once a poet wrote a poem in praise of king Krishnadeva Raya and pleased king. The asked him what he would like as a reward. “Give me a hound,” said the poet. The court members looked at one another in disbelief. They felt the poet had missed a golden opportunity to make some money and
Once king Krishnadeva Raya had a parrot of which he was excessively fond. He kept it in a silver cage and fed it fruit and nuts and anything else the bird asked for. The parrot longed for freedom and often asked for it but the king would always reply, “Ask for anything else.” One day,
Tenali Raman had a large appetite and was known to eat enormous quantities of food especially when invited to feasts. One day, a zamindar decided to test his capacity and invited him to lunch. Raman ate as much as three men would have done and then emitted a loud belch. “Enough?” asked his host. “No
Several years ago, there existed an animal planet. On this planet, each kind of animal lived in its own special land. The orange elephant lived on the orange land; the blue crocodiles lived on the blue land; and so on. One day, on the land of the orange elephants, a baby elephant came running towards
One morning a villager stepped out of his hut and saw huge, round footmarks in the mud outside his dwelling. Soon there was a large crowd outside his hut. They followed the tracks and found that they ran all through the village to the other side. “Let us not panic,” advised a villager. “There might
There were two brothers who were always up to some mischief. If somebody had been locked up in his house or if somebody’s cow had been painted red, one always knew who the culprits were– the brothers. One day the boys’ mother asked Tenali to talk to her sons and put the fear of God