Tenali Rama and the Hardworking Thieves

The kingdom of Vijayanagara was once gripped by a devastating and prolonged drought. The sun blazed relentlessly from the heavens, parching the earth until deep fissures appeared in the soil. Rivers that once flowed majestically were reduced to trickles, and wells across the city had reached their very depths. In these trying times, the legendary courtier and wit, Tenali Rama, spent much of his time worrying about his beloved backyard garden. He had nurtured various exotic plants and fruit-bearing trees, but the lack of water was causing them to wither away. One evening, while walking through his drying orchard, Tenali noticed some suspicious movement behind a cluster of thick bushes. Peering through the twilight, he discerned the silhouettes of two men. He immediately realized they were thieves waiting for nightfall to break into his house. Instead of raising an alarm, Tenali Rama decided to use his legendary wit to solve two problems at once. He called out loudly to his wife, 'My dear, have you heard the news? The city is crawling with dangerous thieves tonight. The King has advised everyone to secure their valuables. I believe the safest place for our gold and jewels is the deep well in our garden. No thief would ever think of looking at the bottom of a well!' Hidden in the shadows, the thieves' eyes widened with greed. A short while later, Tenali and his wife dragged a heavy iron chest—which Tenali had secretly filled with large stones—to the well. With a synchronized 'Heave-ho!' they dropped the chest into the well, creating a massive splash. Tenali then announced loudly that they could now sleep in peace and went inside. The thieves, overjoyed, emerged from their hiding spots. They realized that to get the chest, they would first have to empty the well. They grabbed buckets and began a grueling night of labor, drawing water and pouring it onto the parched garden beds. By dawn, they had successfully emptied the well and watered every single plant in the garden. When they finally hauled up the chest and broke it open, they were horrified to find nothing but common river stones. At that moment, Tenali Rama stepped out into the garden and smiled, 'Thank you, kind gentlemen, for watering my garden so thoroughly throughout the night. I couldn't have done it without your hard work!' Realizing they had been outsmarted, the exhausted thieves fled the scene, never to return.