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