Tenali Rama and the Two Thieves

Dadi: "Last Tenali story for tonight, Guddu! This one has thieves, a well, and a very clever trick!"

Guddu: "Thieves! Did they try to steal from Tenali?"

Dadi: "They did! But let me tell you how it started. One day, King Krishnadevaraya visited his prison. There he met two burglars who were very skilled at their craft."

Guddu: "Skilled burglars? That doesn't sound good!"

Dadi: "Well, they made the king an offer. They said, 'Release us, Your Majesty, and we'll help you catch other thieves. We know all their tricks!' The king thought this could be useful."

Guddu: "So he let them go?"

Dadi: "Not so fast! The king wanted to test them first. He said, 'If you can break into Tenali Raman's house and steal something valuable, I'll release you and make you royal spies.'"

Guddu: "But Tenali is so smart! That's a hard test!"

Dadi: "The thieves thought they could outsmart anyone. That same evening, they crept into Tenali's garden and hid behind the bushes, waiting for the family to sleep."

Guddu: "Did Tenali know they were there?"

Dadi: "Of course! Tenali heard rustling sounds and immediately understood someone was hiding in his garden. But instead of calling for guards, he decided to teach these thieves a lesson."

Guddu: "What did he do?"

Dadi: "He staged a little play! He went inside and started talking very loudly to his wife. 'My dear, I'm worried about all our treasure. Let's pack all our gold coins and jewelry into this trunk and hide it somewhere safe!'"

Guddu: "*eyes wide* He said this on purpose?"

Dadi: "Very much on purpose! The thieves' ears perked up. They watched through the window as Tenali and his wife made a big show of putting things into a large trunk. Then Tenali carried the heavy trunk to his backyard."

Guddu: "Where did he hide it?"

Dadi: "He threw it into the well! With a huge splash! Then he said loudly, 'There! No thief will ever find it now!' and went to bed."

Guddu: "But the thieves saw everything!"

Dadi: "Exactly what Tenali wanted! The moment the house went dark, the two thieves crept to the well. They looked down but couldn't see anything in the dark water. So what did they do?"

Guddu: "They went down to get it?"

Dadi: "They spent the entire night pulling out water from the well, bucket after bucket! They thought once the water was low enough, they could grab the trunk. The whole night they worked, sweating and exhausted."

Guddu: "Did they find the treasure?"

Dadi: "When dawn came and the water was almost gone, they finally pulled out the trunk. Excitedly, they opened it and found... stones! Just ordinary garden stones!"

Guddu: "*bursting into laughter* Stones!"

Dadi: "And at that moment, Tenali walked out into his garden, stretching happily. 'Good morning, friends!' he called out. 'Thank you so much for watering my plants! I was worried about them, but you've done such excellent work!'"

Guddu: "He tricked them into doing his gardening!"

Dadi: "*laughing* The thieves had emptied all the water onto his garden beds while searching for treasure that never existed! They were so embarrassed and exhausted that they just apologized and left."

Guddu: "What happened to them?"

Dadi: "When the king heard the story, he laughed so hard! He said any thief who could be fooled so easily was not clever enough to work for him. They went back to prison, but I'm sure they learned their lesson."

Guddu: "Tenali beat them without even fighting!"

Dadi: "That's the best way to win, beta. With brains, not force. The thieves' greed made them believe they would find easy treasure. If they had been honest workers instead of thieves, they wouldn't have wasted their whole night pulling water!"

Guddu: "And Tenali got his plants watered for free!"

Dadi: "*chuckling* He turned their bad intentions into something good for his garden. That's true wisdom. When someone tries to harm you, sometimes the best response is to make their effort useless or even helpful to you."

Guddu: "I'll remember that if someone tries to trick me!"

Dadi: "Good. But remember, the real lesson is not to be greedy or dishonest in the first place. Those thieves suffered because of their own choices. Now, off to bed. Dream of gardens and clever tricks!"

Guddu: "Goodnight Dadi! I hope no thieves try to water your garden tonight!"

Dadi: "*laughing* With you around, I don't need any tricks to smile. Goodnight, my clever Guddu."