As dear as salt
The king once asked Tenali Raman to tell him how much he valued him.
“I value you as much as I value salt,”
was Raman’s reply.
“You equate me with something as cheap
and common as salt?” asked the king, deeply disappointed. Thereafter, he
behaved coldly towards Raman.
Several months passed and the king
forgot about the incident.
But not Raman.
He invited the king to a feast one
day.
The food smelt so good that the king
eagerly put a morsel in his mouth.
Immediately he spat it out.
“I instructed the cook to prepare your
favourite dishes,” said Raman.
“Is something wrong?”
“This food has no salt!” replied the
king angrily. “Don’t you know that salt is the important ingredient?”
“But your Majesty, since salt is
common and cheap, I told the cook not to add it to the dishes,” said Raman.
The king understood. He smiled at the
clever manner in which Raman made his point.
