Once upon a time, there was a special cow in a village. This cow produced coffee‑flavoured milk instead of plain milk. One day, a cafe owner, from a big city, visited the village. He came to know about this special cow and got very impressed. The cafe owner convinced the cow owner to sell his […]
Once the king invited three artists to paint the picture of his late uncle. The king’s uncle was blind in one eye. “If you do a bad portrait, I will punish you,” he warned, “but if you do a good one I will reward you. Now start!” The first artist produced a picture that showed
Once Tenali Raman was returning home from the Court one evening when suddenly two women appeared in front of him. “I am the goddess of poverty,” said one of them. “And I am the goddess of wealth,” said the other. “What do you want from me?” asked Tenali, his voice fainting with fear. “Tell us
In a big colony of ants, there was a small ant who always dreamt of being a ladybird or a beetle. One day, she was fed up of being a tiny, helpless ant. She thought that the rules for the ants were very strict. On one windy day, she grabbed and held onto a big
Once there lived a clever, strong tiger in a forest. He always made fun of other animals. He especially mocked the elephant by calling him slow and clumsy. One day, all the animals were holding a meeting in a cave near a mountain. Suddenly, there was a storm and a huge tree fell in front
There was an old man who was intensely proud of two things–his long, white beard that reached down to his chest, and his ability to sleep the moment his head touched the pillow. One day, Tenali Raman asked the old man how he arranged his beard when he slept. One night the man suddenly remem-bered
It was a wet and stormy night. Tenali who had come into the inn was drenched to the skin. He made his way to the fireplace but there were several villagers warming themselves in front of the fire and he could not go near it. As he stood there shivering, the landlord who knew him
Tenali had to put up with the nuisance made by the boys during their play outside his house. One day when the boys were particularly noisy, he went out to talk to them. He said he would give them 5 coins each week to play in the street. The boys were thrilled. They were being
Lola was a very big whale. She always lived alone in the ocean. She appeared quite shy and aloof, and had no friends. Whenever anyone tried to get close to her and cheer her up, Lola would go away. Due to this behaviour of hers, no one liked to come close to her. But old
Madho was a milkman. Before selling milk he always added water to it. His customers knew but were helpless. There was no other milkman in the locality. One day as Madho was about to start on his rounds in the morning, Tenali stood before him. Madho cowered in fright. “Why do you add water to
Once king Krishnadeva Raya was on bed due to illness. So he called his three sons to meet him. The king said that he was on his death-bed and wanted to test them. He asked them to fill the entire room with something, and whoever did handsomely would become the next king. The first son
A reindeer and a fox were great friends. One day, the reindeer found a bucket full of fruits under a big banyan tree in the forest. He decided to keep it a secret. He shared this secret with the fox and told him not to share it with anybody else. But the fox told the
Once Tenali, returning home with his week’s wages, was accosted by an armed robber on a deserted street. “Take my money,” said Tenali, “but do me a favour; shoot a bullet through my hat, otherwise my wife won’t believe I was robbed.” The robber obliged. He threw Raman’s hat into the air and shot a
Tenali had told his four disciples that they were never to do anything without his permission. One day while they were on their way to gurukul, Tenali fell asleep in the bullock cart they were travelling in. His head rolled from side to side and suddenly his turban slipped from his head and fell on
One day, a mother crab and a baby crab were walking on the beach. Watching him walk sideways, the mother crab asked her son, “Why do you walk sideways like that? You should always walk straight ahead with your toes turned out.” “Please teach me how to walk in a straightforward manner with toes turned