One day a
horse trader came to the Kingdom of Vijayanagara to meet King Krishnadevaraya.The trader
showed the king a very beautifully groomed horse and sold the idea of buying
100 more such horses from the man. The king had a weakness for well-groomed
horses and gave a 5000 gold coins as an advance payment for the horses that the
merchant promised to deliver within two weeks.
For a few
days after the merchant had left the king was impatient, but elated. One day he
was pacing up and down in the palace gardens. Tenali Raman was sitting in one
corner of the garden and was busy writing something. After a couple of hours,
the king walked up to Raman and wanted to know what he had been writing all the
while.
Raman
stopped writing and looked up at the king, with a gentle smile on his lips.
“Your Majesty, I was engaged in the task of compiling a list that contained the
names of the fools in our kingdom. The top most name is that of the greatest
fool and then the second and so on” explained Tenali Raman.
The King
became curious and wanted to know whose name featured on top of the list. He
ordered Raman to give the list to him at once. Raman feigned a frightened look
as he reluctantly handed over the list to the King.On seeing the list the King
was angered and turned red on his face.
 | ||||
| Image belongs to:http://goo.gl/OxI9W1 |
“How dare
you write my name on the top? Do I look like a fool to you” thundered
Krishnadevaraya. Tenali Raman bowed in front of the King and began to explain. “My
Lord, I did not mean to hurt you. I only wanted you to know that handing over
5000 gold coins to a stranger in the hope that he will bring you the horses was
rather a foolish act.” The king
cooled down a bit and turned towards Raman and asked him if he would remove his
name from the list, if the horse trader delivered the horses on time, and as
promised.
“Most
willingly, Your Honour. In that case I will put the horse trader’s name on top
of the list” said Tenali.
The King
could never be angry for too long when Tenali Raman was around!
0 comments:
Post a Comment