Top Tenali Rama Stories in English For Kids

Tenali Rama stories are a super hit genre of stories in moral stories for children in Telugu. They originated from real-time incidents and fictional incidents that happened in the life of Tenali Rama Krishna. A renowned poet and scholar of his times. He was a minister in the court of Sri Krishna Devaraya, a world-renowned Telugu King who ruled the VijayaNagara Empire from C.E. 1509–1529.

Who is Tenali Ramakrishna?

Tenali Ramakrishna is one of the Ashta Diggajas in his court. He was known for his presence of minds, wit, fun, and humor. A favorite one to the King Sri Krishna Devaraya,

Tenali RamaKrishnudu
Tenali RamaKrishnudu

What is the actual name of Tenali Rama?

Tenali Rama’s full name is Tenali RamaKrishnudu. He was born to the couple Garlapati Ramakrishnayya and Lakshamma. As he lost his father very early in his childhood, his mother sent him to the Vijayanagara empire to divert his mood and attention. Tenali Ramakrishnudu is popular as Tenali Ramalingadu, Tenali Rama or Raman as per the local languages in India.

Tenali-Rama

Tenali Rama stories

Kids love Tenali Rama stories. They are plain, simple, and fun-filled. They are also filled with morals and life skills that one needs to possess to become a good individual.

Here is a collection of Tenali Rama stories that your children and you will enjoy. Please move on to read them.

The Brahmins and the Golden Mangoes

King Sri Krishnadevarya loved his mother immensely. One day when she was very old, she expressed her wish that she wanted to eat mangoes. The King ordered for juiciest mangoes in the region to be brought immediately for his mother.

By the time the mangoes reached the palace, King’s mother passed away. The King was lost in grief. He felt very sad that being a King he could not even fulfill his mother’s last wish.

He reached out to the Brahmins at the court. They suggested that his mother’s soul would feel happy if he donated golden mangoes to Brahmins. Now, these Brahmins are cunning. They are greedy and hence suggested such an idea to the Kings. A true Brahmin and scholar would never suggest so.

Not knowing this, the King made an announcement to all the Brahmins. He invited all of them to come and accept the Golden mangoes to please his mother’s soul. 

Tenali Rama came to know this. Understanding this greedy intention of the brahmins who advised the King, he decided to teach them a lesson. In a similar way to the King’s announcement, Raman also made an announcement inviting all the Brahmins who took the Golden mangoes to attend his home and accept his gifts for pleasing his Late Mother’s soul.

Now, these cunning Brahmins were more than pleased. The very thought of receiving multiple gifts thrilled them. The next day they went to the royal court and accepted the Golden mangoes with utmost happiness from the King. 

Mango

Then, they straight away headed to Tenali Rama’s house. Rama invited them with a big smile. Then he asked all of them to stretch their hands. The brahmins were ready to accept the upcoming gift and stretched their hands happily. 

Now, Rama went inside the kitchen and brought a red-hot iron stick. Seeing this, all the cunning brahmins were shocked. They started to shiver in fear. 

Rama said, “ My mother dies with rheumatism. Had we given her this treatment, she would have lived a long time. So, to satisfy her soul, I want to give what she missed to you. Please accept this.”

Now the brahmins understood what he was trying to do. They expressed an apology for cheating the King in the name of donation. Immediately they all went to the court and returned the Golden Mangoes they received.

The King was very happy with Ram’s cleverness and appreciated him very much.

Moral: Greed never helps.

Two Thieves and the Trunk of Jewels

During the reign of Sri Krishna DevaRaya, two thieves from the prison requested a pardon. They asked him to free them and that they are changed to good persons. 

Then, the king wanted to test them. He told them that if they can do a theft from Tenali Rama’s house, then he will appreciate them and set them free.

The thieves were more than happy. They took this challenge and set out to steal it that very day. As it was getting dark, they reached Tenali Rama’s house and hid in the shrubs in the compound. 

Everything was silent till Tenali Rama came out for a walk after his dinner. As he was walking in his garden, he observed that someone was hiding in the bushes. He recognized that they are the thieves from the prison. He wanted to teach them a lesson.

Immediately, he shouted to his wife: “Dear, I am going to my neighboring village tomorrow early morning. Please pack all the jewels and money in our big trunk. It is not safe anymore to keep them in the home as there are many thieves in the town.”

Then he went inside the house and brought out a big trunk. He lifted it up heavily and threw it into the well in his garden. Thud! The trunk fell inside the well. Raman went inside the home and closed the doors.

Seeing this the thieves thought their luck was full today. They planned to bring out that trunk by drawing water using the good bucket. Late in the night when everyone in the neighborhood slept, the thieves started to draw the water in the well. They began emptying the buckets of water as they drew one after the other. 

Despite how many buckets they are drawing, the water in the well is not getting finished. At the time of the dawn, they got lucky and the bucket came and pulled out the trunk.

Immediately they opened the trunk with great zeal. Alas! All that they could find was stones! Now, Tenali Rama who was observing all this from his home window came out. He thanked the thieves for watering their plants. He wished them a happy time in prison. Soon, the soldiers who were in disguise outside Rama’s house arrested the thieves and took them away to prison. 

Moral: Wit and presence of mind are important.

Swetha Gangavarapu

Swetha Prasanna Gangavarapu loves telling stories to children. Moral stories are a way to pass the values to the next generation, she believes. She is a freelance writer with a decade of experience in writing and is reachable via LinkedIn.