Tenali Raman’s Cat

One year the city of Vijayanagara was overrun by rats. They ran through the houses, nibbled the grain, and chewed holes in everybody’s clothes. So King Krishnadevaraya had an idea.

He gave each of his courtiers a cat to catch the rats, and a cow to give milk for the cat. “Feed your cats well,” he said, “and in three months I will look at them all. The man with the best cat will get a reward.”

Tenali Raman took his kitten home. That very evening he warmed some of the cow’s milk until it was steaming hot and set the bowl down in front of the hungry little cat.

The kitten pounced on the bowl, put its whole face in, and leapt back with a yowl. Its nose and whiskers were scalded. From then on, whenever it saw a bowl of milk, it backed away and hid under the bed.

So Tenali drank the milk himself, and his family enjoyed it too. The cat had to catch its own dinner. It grew thin and quick, and it chased every rat in the house.

After three months the king called everybody to the palace with their cats. Most of the cats were enormous. They waddled in, so fat they could hardly walk, and flopped down on the cool marble floor to sleep.

Then Tenali Raman came in, and his cat trotted beside him, thin and alert, with bright eyes.

The king frowned. “Tenali! What have you done to your cat? Everyone else’s cat is fat and well fed, and yours looks half starved. Haven’t you been giving it the milk?”

“Your Majesty, I have offered it milk every single day. But my cat refuses to drink milk.”

“A cat that won’t drink milk? Nonsense!”

“See for yourself, Your Majesty.”

A bowl of milk was brought and set in front of Tenali’s cat. The cat took one look at it, arched its back, hissed, and fled to hide behind Tenali’s legs.

The courtiers burst out laughing. The king laughed too, though he looked at Tenali with narrowed eyes.

“Tenali, I suspect you of something.”

“Only of making sure my cat does its work, Your Majesty,” said Tenali. “You gave us cats to catch rats. These fat cats are much too comfortable to chase anything. Mine has caught every rat in my house.”

And it was true. In the courtiers’ homes the rats were still running about over the sleeping cats. In Tenali’s house there was not a rat to be found. The king laughed and gave Tenali the reward after all.