Tenali Rama's Cat
- 2 minute read
- Ages 6-11
- Moral Stories
The city had a problem with rats, and King Krishnadevaraya decided to solve it.
He announced that every household in the kingdom would be given a cat and a measure of milk each day to feed it, at the king's expense, and that within a year there would be no rats anywhere.
Tenali Rama said, in front of the whole court, that this would not work.
The king asked why not.
"Because you are giving people free milk," said Tenali Rama, "and the milk is worth more than the rats are a nuisance."
The king said that was cynical and went ahead.
The cats
Every household received a cat.
Tenali Rama received his like everyone else, and took it home, and that evening he heated a bowl of milk until it was very hot indeed and set it in front of the animal.
The cat drank, burned its mouth badly, and would not go near milk again for the rest of its life.
The inspection
A year later the king sent inspectors round the city to see how the scheme was working.
They found what they were meant to find. Households with healthy well-fed cats, empty milk bowls, and grateful people.
Then they came to Tenali Rama's house, and the inspector put down the bowl, and the cat backed away from it and left the room.
The inspector reported it as a fault.
The court
Tenali Rama was called to explain why his cat refused the king's milk.
"Because it will not drink milk, Your Majesty."
"Every other cat in this city drinks it."
"Yes," said Tenali Rama. "That is what I would like Your Majesty to think about."
He waited a moment.
"You have spent a year buying milk for every household in the kingdom. If the cats are drinking it, they are well fed. A well-fed cat does not hunt. Ask your inspectors how many rats there are now, and then ask them how much milk has been bought."
Moral of the story
Tenali Rama did not argue that the scheme was wrong. He made one cat behave differently and let the comparison make the argument for him.
Questions and answers
- What was the king's plan?
To give every household a cat and a daily measure of milk at royal expense, to get rid of the rats.
- What did Tenali Rama predict?
That it would not work, because free milk was worth more to people than the rats were a nuisance.
- What did he do to his own cat?
He gave it very hot milk, which burned its mouth so badly that it never drank milk again.
- What did the inspectors find at his house?
A cat that backed away from the milk bowl and left the room.
- What was his argument to the king?
That a well-fed cat does not hunt, so a year of free milk had produced healthy cats and no fewer rats.
Word meanings
- nuisance
- Something annoying or troublesome.
- cynical
- Believing people act mainly out of self-interest.
- inspector
- Someone sent to check that something is being done properly.
- scheme
- A plan or system for doing something.
Questions about Tenali Rama's Cat
What is the moral of Tenali Rama's Cat?
That a plan can produce exactly the wrong result while appearing to succeed. Everything the inspectors saw looked like the scheme working.
Is Tenali Rama being cruel to the cat?
Most retellings keep this brief, and it is the one uncomfortable part of an otherwise sharp story. It is worth acknowledging with children rather than skipping.
Who was King Krishnadevaraya?
The ruler of the Vijayanagara Empire from 1509 to 1529, and one of the most powerful kings in South Indian history.
Is this story used in economics?
Similar cases are. Schemes that reward the wrong behaviour are a well-known problem, and versions of this story are often used to introduce the idea.