A wealthy merchant from a distant land arrived at the court of King Krishnadevaraya. He had brought a fleet of magnificent Arabian horses. The merchant was quite arrogant and boasted, "Your local horses are slow and weak. My horses are like the wind! Comparing them to yours is a joke!"
The King was offended by this insult to his kingdom. "We shall have a race in one month," the King declared. "If our horses win, you must give all your horses to the royal stables. If they lose, I will provide you with a new ship and a fresh set of horses!"
The merchant greedily agreed. For the next month, the royal trainers worked tirelessly, feeding the horses the finest grains and training them daily. Even Tenali Raman was given a horse to care for. However, the horse assigned to Tenali was a small, sluggish creature that seemed to have no energy at all.
On the day of the great race, the merchant's horses looked powerful and ready. But when Tenali Raman brought his horse forward, it looked weak and tired, barely able to stand. The crowd whispered, "Poor Tenali! He must have forgotten to feed his horse!" The King looked on with concern.
Just before the race began, Tenali Raman did something unusual. He took a long stick and tied a bundle of fresh, green grass to the very end of it. As the race started, he held the stick far in front of the horse. The horse, driven by an intense hunger and the desire to reach the grass, sprinted faster than any other horse in the race! It dashed toward the green leaves, crossing the finish line first.
The King was amazed. "Tenali, how did you make such a slow horse win?" he asked. Tenali smiled and replied, "Your Majesty, when a creature has a strong desire to reach its goal, no obstacle is too great and no distance is too long." The merchant, humbled by the cleverness, surrendered his horses to the kingdom and left with a lesson in humility.
Moral
With a clear goal and a clever plan, even the greatest challenges can be overcome.
