Every day, Tenali Raman’s wife told him about a house in the neighbourhood. The mother-in-law and the daughter-in-law who lived there had loud arguments daily about something or the other. One day his wife told him that the daughter-in-law had come to Tenali Raman’s house and requested to meet him.
Tenali Raman met her the next day. She was very upset. “I hate quarrelling with my mother-in-law, sir. But she is always saying something nasty and then, if I say anything in reply, there is a big row in the house. I have heard that you solve all kinds of problems. Will you please tell me how to sort this out?”
Tenali Raman thought for a moment. Then he brought some water from inside. “Here,” he said, giving the water to the lady, “Please take this. It is holy water. Whenever your mother-in-law scolds you, just take a sip and keep it in your mouth for two minutes. Don’t swallow it for two minutes. And don’t reply after swallowing the water.”
“This will help solve my problem?” asked the lady, puzzled.
“Yes, but you must do it regularly,” advised Tenali Raman.
The lady started to do this every time her mother-in-law began to shout or scold. So, she never replied to her or retorted, no matter what she said. And each time her mother-in-law got tired and fell silent.
Every month, the lady came to Tenali Raman and took some more holy water.
This went on for some months. The lady would hold the holy water in her mouth and not reply to her mother-in-law. At the end of her angry outburst, her mother-in-law would become silent. Slowly, as the days went by, the lady’s mother-in-law stopped getting angry so often. She realized that her daughter-in-law was not getting angry at all. In fact, she was behaving very nicely.
After some months, the lady went to Tenali Raman and asked for the holy water again. This time, Tenali Raman laughed, “You don’t need it any more, madam.”
“Why do you say that, sir?” she asked. “Now you can use the water from your well and it will be enough. You have controlled your anger and, as a result, your mother-in-law has also become calm and quiet,” said Tenali Raman wisely.
The lady smiled and thanked Tenali Raman. His wisdom had brought peace to her home.
