Tenali Raman and the Thieves

  • Tenali Raman, the witty poet and advisor in the Vijayanagar court, once heard thieves planning to rob his house at night.
  • Instead of panicking, he and his wife filled a big trunk with stones and pretended to struggle while dragging it to the well.
  • They loudly said, “We must hide our jewels inside the well, or the thieves will steal them.”
  • The thieves, thinking the trunk was full of treasure, pulled it out of the well the whole night. By morning, they were exhausted and had run away empty-handed.
  • Moral: Cleverness is stronger than brute force.

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