Tales of Tenali Raman - Tenali Raman and The Thieves

In the Kingdom of Vijaynagar, a band of thieves where known to cause enough trouble to the people, especially the rich merchants. The guards of King Krishnadevaraya tried their best to catch them, but they remained fruitless. The thieves used to search for a rich merchant and then loot his house and get away with it.

These thieves have been constantly observing Tenali Raman. They were aware of the fact that Tenali Raman was handsomely rewarded by the king very often. Looting his house was going to be an excellent opportunity. But what the thieves were unaware was that Tenali usually distributed all the gifts and rewards among the poor.

So one night the thieves seek the opportunity of robbing Tenali Raman. They came to his house one night and hid behind the bushes. But Tenali Raman had already seen them hiding. Being clever, he knew how to handle this situation. He went to the nearby window and started speaking loudly to his wife, "My dear wife, I have been hearing a lot about these thieves who loot rich people at night. I have an idea of saving our valuable treasures. Why don't we put all our wealth in this big trunk and hide it in some secret location." His wife asked, "Where do you plan to hide it?" To this Tenali Raman said," Come with me, I will show you."

Tenali Raman put some big stones in the trunk and closed it. Then he dragged the trunk and brought it behind his house. He pushed the trunk into the big well and went inside the house with his wife. The thieves meanwhile were witnessing the whole episode. They were very happy that they knew the secret place where Tenali Raman had hidden the valuables. The trunk indeed looked very heavy when Tenali Raman was dragging it. So they waited patiently behind the bushes allowing the family of Tenali Raman to sleep. Then they went near the well and examined it. It was indeed a big well and full of water. The only way, they realized, to remove the trunk out was to empty the water from the well. So they started drawing out water from the well.

Meanwhile Tenali Raman had managed to come out of the house and hide himself outside. He had heard all the plans the thieves were making. He saw the thieves drawing out water. He realized he had not watered the plants in a while. So an idea came to him. Without the thieves' notice he tried making small channels in the ground with the help of a shovel. The thieves did not notice him as they were busy drawing out water. They kept throwing water on the ground which through the different channels made by Tenali started flowing towards the garden. By this simple act, the water wasn't wasted and the plants were watered well. This went on for sometime.

 The well being big, the thieves got tired after a while. They stopped and sat near the well and discussed about their plans. Meanwhile Tenali had asked his son to fetch the guards. The guards surrounded the thieves and captured each one of them. The thieves were too tired to protest or run.

In the king's court the next day, the thieves were brought before the king. The king summoned the thieves to prison. The king was impressed with Tenali Raman's bravery and presence of mind.