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 to the road. But as Tenali had told them never to do anything without his permission, none of the disciples made a move to get down and pick it up. When Tenali woke up and was told about the loss of his turban he was furious.“Next time anything falls off, pick it up at once!” he thundered. Sometime later the bullock dropped its dung and the four boy disciples leaped down and picked it up. Tenali was horrified. He made a list of the things that could fall off from a moving cart. “Pick up any of these things if they fall,” he told them, handing them the list, “Don’t pick up anything that is not mentioned here.”Just then, the cart lurched violently and Tenali was thrown headlong into a ditch. Tenali yelled to his disciples to pull him out. “We can’t, guruji,” said his disciples, sadly.
“Your name is not on the list you gave us.”
