Yuktidarshana: Seeing Solutions

Creative problem-solving finds a way

Two tales of creative solutions to impossible problems. The Thieves and the Well shows how turning the tables can catch criminals, while The Loan Repayment demonstrates how clever thinking can settle debts without spending a coin.

The Thieves and the Well

One night, Tenali was walking home late from the palace when he noticed shadows following him. Thieves!

"That's the court poet," one whispered. "The king pays him well. He must have gold!"

Tenali's heart beat faster, but his mind worked even faster. He couldn't outrun them. He couldn't fight them. He needed a plan.

Up ahead was an old well - dried up and abandoned.

Suddenly, Tenali started running toward the well. "Oh no! Oh no!" he cried loudly. "I've dropped it!"

He leaned over the edge of the well, wailing. "My bag of gold! It fell into the well!"

The thieves crept closer, listening.

"Five hundred gold coins!" Tenali moaned. "All my savings! Gone into this cursed well!" He sat beside the well, pretending to sob.

The thieves looked at each other. Five hundred gold coins? That was a fortune!

"Wait here, old man," said the leader. "Let us help you. We'll climb down and get your gold!"

"Oh, would you? You're so kind!" Tenali sniffled.

One by one, the thieves lowered themselves into the deep well. It was dark and cold at the bottom.

"I don't see any gold!" one shouted up.

"Keep looking!" Tenali called down. "It must be there!"

While the thieves searched in the darkness, Tenali quietly pulled up the rope they'd used to climb down. Then he walked to the village and woke the watchmen.

"There are thieves stuck in the old well," he said calmly. "They were kind enough to trap themselves. You just need to arrest them."

The watchmen found the thieves at the bottom of the well, shouting and arguing, unable to escape. They were arrested that very night.