The Brinjal Curry

King Sri Krishnadevaraya had a very special garden where he grew a variety of rare brinjals. These brinjals were known to be quite tasty and were found only in the royal garden. The garden was hence guarded round the clock.

One day, the King hosted a dinner for all his courtiers and served a special brinjal curry. Tenali Raman savoured the curry and couldn’t forget its taste. After reaching home, Raman told his wife about the special brinjal curry and praised its taste. Tempted by the narration, Raman’s wife requested him to bring some of those brinjals home so that she could cook the dish.

Raman replied that those brinjals were grown only in the royal garden, which was heavily guarded. However, his wife insisted on tasting the curry and begged him to get those brinjals. Reluctantly, Rama agreed.

One night, Raman sneaked into the King’s royal garden and plucked a few brinjals. His wife was excited to see the brinjals and cooked the curry. She wanted their son to taste the curry too. 

However, Raman warned her that their son was young and would maybe tell someone about the tasty brinjal curry. This would lead to us getting caught. Her motherly affection would not allow her to eat alone without serving the curry to her son, who was sleeping on the roof after finishing his homework.

So, Raman thought of a solution, went upstairs, and poured a bucket of water on his sleeping son. When the child woke up, he told him that it was raining outside and that it was time for dinner. Once indoors, Raman changed his son’s clothes and served him rice with brinjal curry. He called his wife, saying, “It is raining outside; let our son sleep in the room.”

The next day, the gardener noticed that some of the brinjals were missing, and he informed the king. The king was furious and took it as a challenge to find out who the thief was. Chief advisor Appaji suspected that only Tenali Raman would be capable of doing such a thing and told the king about his suspicion.

The king then asked his guards to bring Raman to his court. Once Raman was brought to the court, the king asked him about the missing brinjals. Raman replied that he wasn’t aware of the stolen brinjals. Chief advisor Appaji then suggested that Raman’s son be brought to the court. The guards brought Raman’s son to the court. The king asked the boy what he had for dinner the previous night. The boy answered that he had had brinjal curry, and it was very tasty. Appaji then told Raman to accept his crime. However, Raman suggested that his son might be narrating something from a dream he had.

Appaji then asked Raman’s son to describe everything he did after returning from school. The boy replied that after returning from school, he wet out to play, did his homework and then slept on the roof. His father woke him up and asked him to go inside as it had started to rain. He went inside, changed his clothes, had dinner, and then slept inside the house. 

Appaji was confused on hearing the boy’s reply as it did not rain the previous night. So, everyone believed that the boy indeed had a dream about eating brinjal curry. Raman was freed without any punishment. However, Raman later confessed his mistake in front of the King. They forgave him as they were impressed by his intelligence. 

Moral
One should never steal.