Tenali Raman's cat

Krishna Deva Raya was the ruler of Vijayanagar. His rule was prosperous and the people were happy under him. Trade flourished and the granary was completely full.

However this created one problem. The excess of the grains stored led to a sudden increase of rats in the country. However because the problem was initially small, the people did not pay too much attention to it. Soon the problem spiraled out of hand. The rats became bold and the kingdom was facing a serious disaster if steps were not taken to contain it.

The farmers all met the king. 'My Lord! This is unbelievable. We had a bumper crop and we are in the danger of facing starvation. The rats are becoming too much. Please we need to control it.'

The chief minister came forward. 'My Lord. I think every house needs to maintain a cat. That is the only way we can stop this problem.'

Before the chief minister could finish his statement, another minister came forward. 'Sir. The cat sir. We just cannot leave it. They are doing such a big service to us. We need to take care of them. Please make sure there is enough milk to be fed to the cat, so that they can carry out their duty correctly.'

Tenali Raman frowned as he heard the suggestion of the minister. Not only was it a costly idea, it was a really bad idea. He was about to open his mouth to say something, when the other ministers also assented to this. 'Yes my Lord. I think it is best if we assign a cow to every household. The milk of the cow should be used for the cat.'

Tenali Raman sighed as he saw King Krishna Deva Raya nod his head gravely. Raman knew that the ministers were spurred by nothing but greed.....The cat would take a tiny portion of the milk from the cow. The remaining would go to their own house....How could these people be so selfish when the kingdom is standing in the threshold of a disaster, Raman wondered looking at the ministers. Looking at the king, Raman also realized that the king would not listen to him right now.

And so it was decided. Every minister was given a particular granary to look after and he had to take supervise whether every house was taking good care of the cat in their house.

Tenali Raman was in his house watching the cat, as his wife was cooking.

It had been two months since the ‘rat’ problem in his kingdom. And right now, that problem was history. The coffers were about to run dry because of the gift of cows which the king was presenting to all the people. And Tenali Raman knew exactly how much of the milk was going to the cat. The ministers were definitely getting more fat than Tenali Raman could even imagine, which told him where the rest of the milk was going.

‘Are you coming for dinner?’ Raman’s wife asked him.

Raman reached a decision, a slight smile in his eyes. ‘Boil some milk.’ Raman said grinning. ‘The cat will have dinner with us.’

The wife said nothing as she watched Raman. And when she was readying the dinner, Raman poured the hot milk on the saucer and placed it near their food. He then started to have the dinner.

A few seconds later, dragged by the heavenly smells of cooking, Raman found the cat purring, as it came inside the room. Raman could almost see the eyes of the cat brightening.

That was unfortunate – for the cat. The milk was scalding hot. The cat nearly fell back hard from the milk, mewing and scolding Tenali Raman for not giving it the proper food. Not that Raman cared. The cat mewed some more and gave up when it realized that the human was completely indifferent to its predicament.

And this went on for a few days. The cat stopped relying on the milk from Tenali Raman completely.

*************

Soon it was time for the monthly inspection of the cat.

Raman watched with a cold smile as the other fat courtiers brought their fat cats. Today was the day he was going to put an end to it all, he thought as he bought out his scrawny cat.

‘Raman.’ the king was shocked as he watched Tenali’s cat. ‘What is wrong with your cat?’ the king asked incredulous.

The other ministers were more than sure that today was the day, Tenali Raman, their nemesis was going to be fired for his abysmal work....

‘Why? What is wrong with it?’ Tenali asked looking slightly puzzled. ‘Cats survive best when left on its own. My cat is also that way.’

There was a silence. A huge silence.

‘WHAT HAPPENED TO THE MILK FROM THE COW, WHICH I GAVE YOU?’ The king thundered and all the courtiers from the court were slightly worried. Agreed they all fed their cats well....But it was not just the cats, which were getting fed.

‘I used it for my own family, Your Majesty.’ Tenali Raman said nonchalantly. Before the king could start yelling Raman continued. ‘Besides cats do not drink milk, your Majesty. At least not my cat.’

This time the silence was even more pronounced than before.

‘What do you mean?’ the king asked gritting his teeth angrily.

‘You may give the cat milk, your Majesty.’ Raman said. ‘You may see it, for yourself.’

The king was beyond anger and was itching to throw Raman in prison. But realizing that he had let Raman to at least prove his case had a bowl of milk brought before it.

And that was when the king was in for a shocker.

The cat completely ignored the milk. If anything, the cat looked positively scared and nearly scampered from the court.

None of the people in the court knew what to say, as the impossible scene played before them.

‘What is the meaning of all this, Raman?’ the king asked shocked.

‘It means the cats do not need the milk and neither do the courtiers need the cows for the milk.’ Raman said.

The king was slightly shocked as Raman nodded and continued. ‘Cats are creatures of nature, Your Majesty. We do not have to provide for it. They survive best if left to themselves. By giving the cows to the people, all that you have managed to do is bleed the coffers of the kingdom. Diverting the funds where it is not needed.’

And this time the king understood.

**********

It was not long before the ministers all returned the cows and the cats were forced to fend for themselves and there were hardly any rats in the kingdom.

*Illustrated Story for children available in Amazon and Google Play

The Clever Jackal who got away

The clever Jackal was looking around the forest and he was sniffing for a prey. Jackal hoped that he would find a rabbit or at least a lizard today. But Jackal had no such luck. He walked through the meadow and the grass and he was looking under the rocks of the mountain, and still… no luck.

That was when Jackal was shocked. He smelt something big. Something dangerous. Alarmed Jackal turned and saw Bhubhesi, the Lion ramble towards the exact spot that Jackal was there.

For a second Jackal panicked.

Jackal was always a clever one. In the past too, to escape Bhubhesi, Jackal had played many tricks on the lion. Now Jackal was afraid. He was sure that if Bhubhesi found him here, alone and hungry, Bhubhesi would take revenge on him.

For a second, Jackal looked around and saw the rocky mountains and wondered what to do. There was no way out and Jackal could not escape Bhubhesi.

Suddenly Jackal grinned.

He threw himself against the rocky walls and called out.

“Great Lion! Help!” Jackal panted and looked like he was pushing against the rocky mountain. “I cannot hold the rock up. It is going to fall on us.” Jackal panted some more as Bhubhesi saw the rocks above. “Please Lion, use your great strength and help me. Or the rocks would fall on us and crush us.”

Bhubhesi looked at the panting Jackal and then at the rocks. Bhubhesi realized that Jackal needed the strength of the magnificent Lion and felt proud as he fell on the rock and pushed it.

“I will hold it up.” Bhubhesi told the Jackal. “I am strong.”

Jackal fell back and he was taking deep breaths. “Thank you All-Powerful Lion. You saved us.” The Jackal looked around and nodded. “I will find a log to keep the rocks up, so that the rocks do not fall on us.” Jackal looked earnestly at the Lion. “Please hold up the rocks till then, o great Lion.”

Bhubhesi’s heart swelled as he nodded.

Jackal smiled at the foolish lion and disappeared from there, thanking his stars.

Bhubhesi held up the rocks for a long time and that was when he realized that he had been fooled by the clever Jackal and the lion was disgruntled with it. But there was nothing that the lion could do about it, because Jackal had escaped and he had again proved that he was the most clever animal of all.

-African Folk Stories

The Clever Girl

A shepherd was grazing his sheep in a mountain when he saw something glittering in the far side. The shepherd was shocked to see that it was a golden mortar. He brought the mortar to his home and showed it to his daughter.

“This is pure gold. I am going to present the mortar to the king tomorrow.” The shepherd told his daughter.

His daughter objected to this. “Don’t do it, father. You have found only the mortar. If you give this to the king, he will immediately ask for the pestle too. You will not be able to produce it. That will annoy the king.”

The shepherd looked disbelievingly at his daughter. “No daughter, I do not think that you are right. The king will appreciate that I gave him this gift.”

The daughter tried her level best to dissuade her father. But her father was adamant.

The next day the shepherd went to the king and presented him with the golden mortar.

“This is a golden mortar!” The king said with a surprise as he took the shepherd’s gift. The shepherd smiled and that was when the king frowned. “Where is the pestle that goes with it?”

“I…” The shepherd was shocked. “I… did not find it.”

But the king refused to believe the shepherd. “You found the mortar and the pestle. But you have given me only one of it. I will throw you in prison for this!”

The numb shepherd looked at the king as the king’s guards caught the poor shepherd. “My daughter told me of this.” He murmured to himself. The guards were pulling away the shepherd as the shepherd kept murmuring to himself. “I am a fool for not listening to my daughter.”

The king heard this. He asked his guards to stop. “What do you mean by that?” The king asked the shepherd.

“My daughter told me not to present the mortar to the king; because she told me that the king would ask for the pestle next.” The shepherd told the king and he shook his head. “I did not heed to her wise words.”

The king studied the shepherd for a few seconds. “I will forgive your mistake. But for that your daughter needs to come and meet me.”

The shepherd panicked as he stared at the king. But the king was not yet done. “Tell your daughter that when she comes to meet me, she must neither be clothed, nor be naked; she must neither come riding nor walking and she has to meet him, neither at day nor at night.” The king shrugged looking very proud of himself. “If she comes that way, I will marry her.”

The shepherd was sent home and the man was terrified. He just did not know what to do. Slowly he told his daughter all that had happened in the king’s court.

The daughter shrugged and she smiled. “I will take care of it.”

The shepherd would not believe it.

But the next day, at dusk, when it was neither day nor night, she took a fishing net and wrapped herself in it. She tied fresh reins to a goat and stood on it. She walked the goat to the king’s palace half sitting on it and half riding it and she reached the king’s palace when it was still dusk.

The king studied the shepherd’s daughter for a few seconds and he was numb with shock. Then he remembered that he was bound by his promise to the shepherd, because he had promised to marry the shepherd’s daughter if she fulfilled his condition – which she had.

“I shall marry you!” The king told the girl immediately. “But henceforth you should never give advice to anyone. If I ever find that you have advised someone then you will have to leave the castle and never return again.”

The shepherd’s daughter agreed to this and she married the king and lived as the queen of the land.

************

One day, the queen was traveling through the kingdom, when she saw a peasant looked thoroughly vexed as he was lying on the road.

“What has happened?” The queen asked the peasant.

“Yesterday, my mare gave birth to a foal. Immediately after birth, the foal ran away and sat next to an ox. When I went to take the foal, the owner of the ox told me that the foal was his, because he had found it!” The peasant looked miserable. “We went to the king. The king has decided that the foal belongs to the person who found it and not to the person who owns the mare.”

The queen stared at the man for a hard second and then she sighed. She turned to the man with a grin. “Do you have a fishing net with you?”

********

The king was driving through the streets when a strange sight met his eyes. A man was throwing his fishing net on the streets and looking like he was trying to catch fish… on dry land.

“What are you trying to do?” The king demanded from the man.

“Trying to catch fish.” The man said shrugging as he turned back to his net.

The king was exasperated. “You are not going to catch any fish in dry land. You need to go to the waters for that.”

The man did not even stop what he was doing as he heard the king. “The king of the land yesterday has decided that a foal belongs to an ox instead of the mare which birthed the foal. When an ox can give birth to a foal, why can I not catch fish on dry land?”

The king stared at the man. He realized his foolishness and he reversed his previous decision. The foal was given to the man owning the mare.

But however, the king also knew that this man was incapable of thinking up this plan.

“Who gave you this, idea?” The king demanded.

At first, the man did not want to reveal the secret to the king. Finally, when the king threatened him, the man told him that this was the queen’s idea.

********

“You have disobeyed me.” The angry king told the queen. “You gave advise to another. For that, I order that you should leave the castle immediately.”

The queen looked sad on hearing the king.

However the king relented on one point. “Because you are the queen of the land, you can take one thing from the palace – one thing that you value the most.”

The queen stared at the king for a few seconds. Then she smiled.

She pulled a bottle of drinks from the cabinet.

“Shall we drink to that, your majesty?” She asked the king with innocent eyes.

*********

The king woke up from a deep sleep and felt that his eyes just would not open. With great difficulty he opened his eyes and looked around.

For a few seconds, he was shocked. He was more than shocked because this was not his palace. A few seconds later, the king looked around and he realized that this was a shepherd’s house.

Surprised the king searched for someone there and that was when he found his wife.

“Where am I?” The king demanded.

“My house.” The queen told the king. “I fed you sleeping draught which I had mixed in the drinks. And I brought you here when you were asleep.”

“Why did you bring me here?” The king asked looking around.

The queen smiled. “You said I could bring what I valued the most with me, when I left the castle. I valued you the most. So I brought you here.”

Needless to say the king realized his mistake and took the queen back to his palace and she ruled the kingdom with him and they lived happily ever after.

- Grimm Brother’s Fairy Tales

The Bear, the Eagle and the Fish

In the far away land, there lived a count. The count had three beautiful daughters, each more beautiful than the other.

Unfortunately, the count was a gambler. He had lost all his money, gambling.

The count took up to hunting. During one such hunting trip, the count lost his way in the forests. He was stumbling and getting steadily scared as the skies were darkening and that was when the Count saw a huge bear come towards him.

The Count was terrified and tried to run away from there and that was when the bear spoke.

“You seem to be lost, Count!” The bear said in a growling voice. “I will lead you out of the forest.” The Count was sure that he saw a smirk on the face of the bear as the animal continued. “You do not seem to have any money either. I will show you a cave where there are riches far beyond anything that you have even dreamed of.”

The Count had been staring blankly at the bear. But on hearing the words of the bear, the first hint of greed made way into the Count’s eyes.

Needless to say, the bear was not yet done. “In return of this, you have to let me marry your first daughter.”

The Count stared at the bear; but the greedy man agreed to this.

So, the Count got plenty of riches and when his eldest daughter reached marriageable age, a very handsome man came in a carriage driven by black horses and he took the daughter away.

The Countess wept and tried to stop this. But the Count was rich and he did not mind it because he had become rich. He never even thought about it and continued enjoying his riches.

But the Count was a gambler and he committed the same mistakes. Very soon, he lost the money that he had got from selling his first daughter in marriage to the bear.

The Count took up to hunting again.

This time too he was lost in the forest.

An eagle came and helped the Count. The eagle also agreed to help the Count on the condition that the eagle could marry the Count’s second daughter.

The Count agreed to this too and the second daughter was also married to a strange man who came in a carriage and took the daughter away.

The Count lost this money too and he turned to hunting.

The events repeated and this time, a fish came and helped the count. The Count agreed to marry his third daughter to the fish and he got some riches in return.

The Count and the Countess were soon alone. A boy was born to them much later. The couple loved the boy a lot.

The boy could not help but notice that his mother was sad all the time. Slowly, he got his mother to tell him everything. His mother told him about his three sisters.

After that, the boy was determined to save his sisters and he went to the forests.

He found his eldest sister who was living with the bear. Much to his surprise, the boy found that his sister was very happy with the bear. The sister told her brother her husband’s story – the bear was the brother of the eagle and the fish and they were sons of a great king. An evil sorcerer had been jealous of the three brothers and he had turned them into this form. The evil sorcerer was very powerful and he could change form at will.

The boy saw his other two sisters too.

The boy had great difficulty in finding his third sister, because she lived underwater. The reason, the boy was able to find his third sister was because there was bluish smoke coming from the chimney of the third sister’s house – that was difficult to spot because the house was underwater. The boy had to get inside the third sister’s house through the chimney. But even there he found that his sister was very happy with her husband.

That was when the boy vowed to save his three brothers-in-law.

The husbands of his three sisters each gave him three bear-hairs; eagle wings and fish scales respectively to be used in case of need and told him what to do – the boy was to find a golden egg hidden with the sorcerer and smash it hard on the ground.

The boy went on from there and with great difficulty he found the sorcerer and challenged the sorcerer to a fight.

The sorcerer changed into a bull and charged at the boy. But the boy was unfazed as he rubbed the bear hairs. The first brother-in-law came in the form of a bear and fought the sorcerer.

The sorcerer was all but defeated and he changed into the form of a duck and flew away from there.

Without getting worried, the boy rubbed the eagle’s wings and the second brother-in-law came in the form of an eagle and fought the duck and defeated it.

The egg fell off from the duck. But the egg fell into a river.

The boy rubbed the fish scales and his third brother-in-law came in the form of a fish and found the egg under the water and pushed it to the bank of the river. Before the sorcerer could come there, the boy caught the egg and smashed it hard on the ground.

No sooner had the boy done this, the entire forest and the houses of the sisters with their husbands disappeared. There was a magnificent castle which appeared there and all the brothers-in-law appeared in their normal form and they were all very handsome men.

The first brother-in-law now went to his father’s kingdom and ruled that kingdom. The second brother-in-law went to his father-in-law’s place and there he and his brother-in-law divided the kingdom and ruled their half of the kingdom wisely and well. The last brother-in-law ruled the castle on which the enchantment had been lifted and they all lived happily ever after.

- Czech Folk Stories

Visu, the Woodsman

Once upon a time there lived a woodsman called Visu. He lived in a hut in the plain of Suruga, with his wife and two children. He used to work hard and provide for his wife and children.

However, one day after a visit from a priest, Visu decided that he had not spent any time praying and that all he had done was work.

From that day onward, Visu spent all his time praying. He failed to work and spent all his time praying. His family starved, but still Visu did not work and continued praying.

His wife was increasingly furious with him for having neglected them. One day she angrily scolded her husband as she pointed her painfully thin children.

Even after seeing that Visu did not change his mind. But he was very angry with his wife and he picked up his axe and walked away from the house with a vow that he would never return again and that he would spend all his time praying, away from his family.

He was still praying in the morning and that was when he saw a beautiful fox run before him.

Visu thought that it was very auspicious to see the fox and he ran after it. The fox ran into some bushes as Visu ran after it.

Visu could not see the fox anymore, but he came upon a brook and near the brook he saw two women playing Go.

The game of the ladies went on and on for a long time and the ladies paid no attention to Visu. They were moving the pieces of the board and as Visu watched the game mesmerized he realized that the game had no end. But Visu saw the women and nothing else and soon he remembered nothing else as he was watching the game for the whole of the afternoon.

Suddenly, when it was almost evening, one of the women played a false move.

“That is not allowed!” Visu remarked loudly as he saw the move.

Even as he had spoken, Visu saw both the women turn into foxes before his very eyes and they ran away from him.

Visu tried to run after them, but he found that he could not move very fast. His shoulders which were usually strong and powerful, felt heavy and stiff. His hair was long and his beard nearly touched the ground. Visu had had the axe in his hand and though the axe had had the finest wood, the wood just withered away.

Visu could not walk easily. But slowly he stumbled along and walked back to his own hut. Or at least, it was the place he thought he had seen his hut. Now, the hut was no longer there. Just a very old woman was standing there.

“My family lived here in my hut. Can you tell me where they are?” Visu asked the old lady.

The old lady looked very strangely at Visu. “Family? Who are you?”

“I am Visu. Visu, the Woodsman.”

The old woman looked shocked and then she shook her head. “That is impossible. Visu, the woodsman lived here three hundred years ago! He left the place one day and never came back.”

Visu was terrified as he heard the woman. “Three hundred years?” He croaked miserably. “Where are my wife and children?”

“Dead and buried.” The old woman said unhappily. “Not only the children. Even your children’s children have been buried now.” The old woman looked around the place. “If you are indeed Visu, then I think that the Gods have prolonged your life as punishment for having neglected your wife and children.”

Hearing that Visu wept.

“I prayed when my family starved and needed the labour of my strong hands.” Visu looked at the old woman and shook his head. “Please remember my last words: ‘If you pray; work too.’”

It remains unknown as to how long the repentant Visu lived. But it is believed that his soul haunts the Fujiyama when the moon shines bright.

- Japanese Folk Stories