In a village in Tenali, a drought destroyed all the crops. Soon, all the pnds and wells became dry, too. There was not a drop of water in the rivers and many people were starving and dying of thirst. The people assembled in holy places and prayed for rain to come. The saints performed special prayers and recited holy books. Still, no rain fell. One day, a well-known saint came to Tenali. As soon as te saint arrived, very heavy rain fell continuosly. Everyone was happy. All the people praised the saint for bringing rain. They said, "It is all due to the saint's arrival . Otherwise, Tenali would have become a desert." Raman, a wise person from the village, did not like these remarks. He said, "The rain has come not because of the saint. Even if he had not come, rain would have com at the appropriate time." The villagers were unhappy about this. THey scolded Raman, "Why should you talk like this?." They even wanted to beat him but Raman told them a story.
"The dates on the tree were ripe. Then a crow came and sat on the tree. This did not affect the tree in any way. Later a ripe fruit which was about to fall, fell. A fool seeing this said, "Itwas only when the crow came that the fruit fell."
At this moment, that visiting saint arrived. The people told him that Raman was haughty felllow and that they wanted to beat him for his disrectful behavior. The saint did not believe their words. As a humble and learned person, he asked to speak to Raman himself. After talking to Raman for some time, the saint was surprised at his intelligence.
The people in the village
accepted the saint's explanation and believed that Raman was right. The saint did not bring rain. Rain came when it was the right time
