Unlucky Ramaiya

In the city of Vijayanagara there lived a man named Ramaiya, and everybody said he was unlucky. Not just unlucky himself, but unlucky to look at. If you saw Ramaiya’s face first thing in the morning, people said, you would have a bad day. Shopkeepers turned their backs when he walked past. Mothers hid their children.

The king heard about this and was curious. “Bring this Ramaiya to the palace,” he ordered. “He can sleep in the room next to mine, and tomorrow his face will be the first thing I see. Then we’ll find out if it’s true.”

So the next morning, the first face King Krishnadevaraya saw was Ramaiya’s, smiling nervously.

And it was a terrible day. The king had a meeting with his ministers that went on so long he missed his breakfast. Then a messenger brought bad news about the harvest. Then, when lunch was finally served, there was a fly in his food and he was too disgusted to eat it. By the evening the king was hungry and furious.

“It’s true!” he shouted. “That man is cursed! He has ruined my whole day. Anyone so unlucky is a danger to the kingdom. Take him away and hang him!”

Ramaiya was dragged away, weeping. His wife ran to Tenali Raman and begged for help.

Tenali went to see Ramaiya in his cell, and whispered something in his ear. The next morning, as Ramaiya stood before the gallows, the guard asked if he had any last wish.

“Only to send a message to the king,” said Ramaiya, and he repeated the words Tenali had taught him.

The guard carried the message to the palace. “Your Majesty, the prisoner says this: ‘When the king saw my face, he missed his lunch. But when I saw the king’s face, I am going to lose my life. So tell me, which of us has the unluckier face?’”

The king sat very still. He thought about it, and slowly his face went red with shame.

“Stop the hanging,” he said. “Bring him to me.”

When Ramaiya stood before him, the king apologised. “It was not your face that spoiled my day. It was my own long meeting, and my bad temper, and a fly. No man’s face is unlucky. I was the foolish one.”

He gave Ramaiya a bag of gold, and announced to the whole city that anyone who called Ramaiya unlucky again would have to answer to the king himself.

“And who told you to send me that message?” the king asked.

Ramaiya only smiled. But the king knew, and the next time he saw Tenali, he said, “Thank you for saving me from a very great mistake.”