One morning when Tenali’s wife looked out of the window, she saw three fat men coming towards her house and guessed at once they were coming to her house for lunch at her husband’s invitation. When they entered the house they were puzzled by a strange sight – a mortar and pestle made ready for worship, stood in the hall. “What is this?” asked one of the men, “Who worships this mortar and pestle?” “Don’t you know?” said the woman, pretending great surprise, “It is my husband’s deity. When my husband comes home, he’ll pick up the pestle and hit you on your heads to draw blood.” Tenali returned just then and he was puzzled to see the men hurrying away from his house. “They wanted the pestle,” explained his wife, “and I refused to give it to them.” “If they wanted the pestle, you should have given it,” and he picked up the pestle and ran after them.
The Unwelcome Guests
