King Krishnadevaraya, the king of Vijayanagar was very angry with his court jester Tenali Raman. So the king had ordered Tenali Raman not to show his face to him ever.
Tenali Raman was patiently waiting for an opportunity for the king's anger to abate.
It was at this time that a huge procession came into the kingdom.
The procession had a very strong and powerful men. They were all wrestlers from the nearby kingdom.
The chief wrestler went straight to the king and he announced his challenge. “I am going around all the kingdoms to see if anyone is stronger than me. Now that I have reached here, I am challenging all the wrestlers of your kingdom to a fight with me.”
The wrestlers in King Krishnadevaraya’s kingdom looked at the powerful wrestler from the neighbouring kingdom, and they were all disheartened. They were sure that they could not fight and win against such a powerful looking man.
The king was very sad because he realized that he had no one who could fight for the honour of his kingdom.
Raman, however, had the answer to this question and told his wife about it too.
But his wife was anxious. “How can you help the king if you cannot show your face to the king?”
Raman as usual had a plan the next day.
King Krishnadevaraya was surprised to see a visitor whose face was covered with a pot.
“Who are you? What are you doing here?” The king was very angry.
“My Lord, it is me, Raman.”
“Have I not told you not to show your face to me?” The king thundered angrily.
“I have covered my face, your majesty,” Raman replied cheekily.
The king could not help himself as he burst out laughing.
“Your majesty. I came here because I am confident that I can defeat the wrestler who has come from the neighbouring kingdom.” Tenali Raman told the king.
Immediately the wrestler was called to the court. The wrestler was first shocked to see a man with a pot on his head and then resisted the urge to burst out laughing.
Tenali Raman turned to the wrestler. “I challenge that my opponent cannot do with his eyes open the things that I can do with my eyes closed.”
The wrestler thought that it was very easy to do anything that a silly, puny man with a pot covering his head could do and he accepted the challenge.
Then Tenali Raman sat on a chair and he signaled his assistant to bring a bucket full of sand and splash it on Raman's face.
After that was done, Raman removed the pot and opened his eyes.
Then nodded at the wrestler. “It is your turn.”
The wrestler realized that he could not do this challenge with his eyes open and he conceded defeat.
Adapted from folk stories of Bharat
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