The Stolen Wells Story Tenali Raman
The Stolen Wells Story Tenali Raman
Tenali Raman And The Stolen Wells
Tenali Raman And The Stolen Wells
One year, in the kingdom of Vijaynagar, the monsoon season was poor. The King ordered one of his ministers to dig fresh wells all over the kingdom so that his people would not suffer during the hot summer season.
A lot of money was given to the minister for this important job.
After a few weeks the minister reported back to the King, “Your Majesty, wells have been dug all across the land just as you ordered.”
The King went around the city with the minister to inspect the wells himself.
He was pleased to see that they were well made and full of water.
However, during summer, some villagers came to the capital, desperate to meet the King.
But no one would let these poor people into the palace. Finally they decided to meet Tenali Raman and ask him for help.
The villagers told Raman that they had no water in their village.
They said, “We complained to the minister, but in vain! We want to meet the King but the palace guards won’t let us in.”
When Raman asked about the wells th at the minister had built, they replied sadly, “There is no sign of any well in our village.’
Raman promised to help them.
The next day in court, Raman told the King that there had been a theft of wells in a village.
The King didn’t believe him, so Raman said, “The villagers themselves are waiting outside, ask them.”
The villagers were brought before the King.
One of them bowed and said, “Your Majesty, we have come all the way to tell you that the wells made by the minister have disappeared. Now, we are suffering without water. Please come and see for yourself.”
The King agreed, and went to the village along with the minister and Raman. Sure enough, there were no wells to be seen.
Then, the King went around his kingdom and was angry to find that wells had been dug only in the capital city and the surrounding villages.
The villages further away had been left without a single well.
The King understood that the cunning minister had taken some of the money for himself instead of using it for digging wells.
He immediately ordered the minister to build a hundred wells in the villages far with his away own money.
Raman supervised the work and got it completed quickly. All the villagers thanked him for his help.
