Criminal :
One day King Kashnadeva Rai and his courtier were sitting in the court. Tenali Ram was also there. Suddenly a shepherd came there and said, "Maharaj, help me. Do me justice. "
"Tell me, what's wrong with you?" The king asked.
"My dear, a stingy man lives in my neighborhood. His house is very old, but he does not get it repaired. Yesterday, a wall of his house fell and my goat died after being buried under it. Please help me get my goat's compensation from my neighbor. "
Tenali Ram got up from his place before Maharaj could say anything and said, "Maharaj, I think only its neighbor cannot be blamed for breaking the wall."
"Then who do you think is guilty?" The king asked.
"Maharaj, if you give me some time now, I will go to the depth of this and present the real criminal to you." Tenali Ram said.
The king granted Tenali Rama's request and granted him time. Tenali Ram called the shepherd's neighbor and asked him to pay the compensation for the dead goat. Neighbor said, "Sir, I am not guilty for this. I had built this wall with a mistry, so the real culprit is the mistry who built that wall. He did not make it firmly. So she fell. "
Tenali Ram called Mistry. Mistry also refused to blame himself and said, "Annadata, I am being vainly convicted while I have no fault in it." The real fault lies with the workers, who made the mixture worse by adding more water to the mortar, so that the bricks could not stick well and the wall fell. You should call them for compensation. "
The king sent his troops to summon the laborers. As soon as the king came in front of the king, the laborer said, "Maharaj, the person responsible for this is the person with water who added more water to the mortar lime."
Now the person who added water to the mortar was called. On hearing the crime he said, "I have no fault in this, Maharaj, the vessel in which the water was contained was very large." Due to which more water was filled than required. Therefore, the amount of water in the mixture increased while adding water. I think you should catch the person who gave me such a big pot to fill water.
When asked by Tenali Rama that he got the big pot from where he was, he told that the shepherd gave him a big pot of water, in which more water was filled than necessary.
Then Tenali Ram said to the shepherd, "Look, this is all your fault." One mistake of yours killed your goat. "
The shepherd was ashamed and left the court. But all Tenali were applauding Rama's wise judgment.