Tenali Raman and the Well of Gold

In the city of Vijayanagara there lived a man named Tenali Raman, and he was the cleverest jester in the whole of the king’s court. He did not have much gold. But he had something better. He had a quick, quick mind.

One hot summer, his little garden was dying of thirst. The sun beat down, the soil cracked into pieces, and Tenali was far too tired to carry bucket after bucket from the well all day long.

Now, around this same time, Tenali had heard a worrying thing. Three thieves had been sneaking about his street at night, listening at windows, picking out houses to rob. Most people would have locked their doors and gone pale. Tenali just smiled to himself. Because he had an idea.

That evening, as it was getting dark, he stood out in his courtyard and spoke to his wife in a great loud whisper. Loud enough, you understand, to carry right over the garden wall. “Wife,” he said, “these are dangerous days. So I have taken all our gold and all our jewels, and I have dropped them deep, deep down to the bottom of the garden well. No thief would ever think to look in the water. They will be safe down there until the danger passes.”

Out in the shadows, on the other side of the wall, three pairs of ears went up.

That night, the thieves crept over the wall and gathered round the well. “The treasure is at the bottom,” one whispered. “We will have to empty the well to get it.” So they found his bucket and his rope, and they got to work. Up came a bucket of water, splashed out onto the garden. Up came another, and another. All night long they hauled and poured, hauled and poured, soaking every dry row of plants, certain that the very next bucket would come up clinking with gold.

By the time the sun came up, the well was nearly empty, their backs were aching, and there was nothing at the bottom but mud. Furious and exhausted, they slipped away before the city woke.

Tenali stepped out into the cool morning, had a good long stretch, and looked around at his garden. It was soaked through and green and happy, watered better than he could have done it in a whole week. He started to laugh. “Thank you, friends,” he called out to the empty street. “Do come again soon.”