One day the king gave a bag of gold coins to all courtiers asking them to give an account of how it was spent after a week. He kept one condition, that every time each courtier spent a gold coin, he had to see his face. So every courtier went to the market but was puzzled how to see the king’s face since the king never came to the market.
The whole week passed and they could not spend a single coin. After a week, on behalf of the courtiers, the royal priest told the king about the trouble they had to face. On this Tenali started laughing and showed all that he had shopped.
The courtiers were happy that he had not fulfilled the condition and, hence, would be punished.
On being asked Tenali said that he had fulfilled the condition well, since each coin had the king’s face imprinted on it.
