TENALI RAMA AND THE THIEVES.

teniali rama had a large garden surrounding hi s house. his wife grew many flowers,vegetables and other useful plants. the garden was a pleasure to see, but one year, rains failed, the level of water in tenali rama's well fell very low.it will be hard to work draw from the well. if he employed men to work, he would have to pay them. rama did not wish to spend money, so, he wondered what he should do.
from the corer of his eye, tenali rama noticed a couple of people hiding behind the tree. they looked like thieves .but ,rama pretended that he had not seen them. he walked back to the house.he called his wife loudly, she came running out.''i heard at the court to day that there have been many robberies in vijayanagara. every one knows that the king give me costly gifts, so, they may come here any night,''tenali informed her.''o goodness gracious what shall we do with all our valuable things''she asked.'' i have an idea. after dinner, we place the money and the jewellery in a sack and lower it in to the well which is nearly empty. it will be a safe place too.''tanali said loudly as he went in to the house.
when he was inside,he closed the door and pulled his wife's arm, and said'' i saw two thieves hiding in the garden. that is why i shouted. quick, let us put some useless stuff in the sack. i will throw it in to the well.''he whispered to her.some times latter tenalt's wife came out of the house and looked around.''no one is here, it is dark too, so, it is safe to bring the sack''. she said loudly. tenali rama came out car ring the heavy sack.
he lowered it into the well with a loud splash. rama dusted his hands and walked back to the house. he and his wife went bed early. the thieves waited for some time . then they crept up to the well and peered in. ''look there isn't much water in the well. let us empty it . then we will be able to climb down safely.''one thief said.the other man agreed. the two of them began drawing buckets of water from the well. they did not know that rama had dug a narrow mud channel so that it would be easy to water the garden, so, by day-break, the thieves had watered all the plants in the garden. tenali rama had a good night's sleep. he came out of the house and said smilingly, ''thank you my good friends, for watering my garden for me.you have saved me the trouble of drawing water from the well. the garden has been very well watered. how you can go home and have a good rest''. tenali said. the two men realised that they had been tricked in to watering the garden by tenali.they crept away shamefaced.tenali rama and his wife laughed heartily.