Once, a priest came to the court and said he wanted to free the kingdom of all evil spirits and, hence, would perform a penance for 1,000 coins.
For this he would stand in the freezing cold water every day and perform a yajna too. The king agreed and this went on for a few days. Everyone would gather at the river bank to see the priest, and so did the king. Tenali tried to go inside the water but the guards stopped him. This made Tenali sure something was wrong. So he asked the king to go and help the priest out of the water since it was too cold.
When Tenali brought the priest outside, the priest’s lower garments were stained blue. When the king said that his legs had become blue of cold,
Tenali said it was because the priest was wearing low-quality warm clothes inside that had shed their colour. Hence, the priest was a cheat. The king laughed and rewarded Tenali for his wit.
