Milk of Knowledge or Milk of Wealth
 |
| Image: All Rights Reserved |
| Chennai, India : Spider Books |
| 2005 |
The Goddess Kali stopped frowning and smiled. She admired the little boy’s wit and honesty. Looking at Raman she said, “You are a very witty boy, Tenali Raman. Since you have made me smile, I will give you a gift.” Saying this she waved her hand, and with a flash of light two bowls of milk appeared in front of Raman.
Smiling at Raman she said, “Here are two bowls of milk. One contains the milk of knowledge and the other contains the milk of wealth. When (you) choose a bowl and drink the milk, you will be blessed with wealth or knowledge for the rest of your life. Which bowl will you choose?”
Raman looked at the bowls, thought for a while and then said, “O! Kali! How can I choose the bowl without tasting the milk, to find out which one is better? Would you allow me to just taste the milk from each bowl, before deciding?”
Kali’s one thousand heads looked at one another, then looked at Raman and said, “No problem Raman. Go ahead and taste the milk from both bowls.” With a gleeful giggle Raman quickly picked up each bowl and took two big mouths of milk from each. As he finished, he stood up and gave the Goddess a naughty smile.
Suddenly the Goddess realised that she had been tricked by Raman. She became furious and said, “How dare you trick me!” Raman quickly asked her forgiveness and said, “Forgive me O! Kali! But what is the use of knowledge without wealth. I will be able to do a lot more good if I had both.”
Once again the Goddess realised that Raman was being honest and forgave him. She blessed him and in a flash of light disappeared. From that day on Tenali Raman began his adventures using wit and knowledge to bring him great wealth.
Extract from the book The best of Tenali Raman
Retold by Brian Jude
All Rights Reserved.
Chennai, India : Spider Books, 2005.
Call Number: J English 398.2 JUD -[FOL]
Extract contributed by Wang Jianzhi
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Which will you choose – the milk of knowledge, or the milk of wealth? (You cannot taste the milk first.)
July 2nd, 2010 at 11:36 am
I will surely choose the milk of knowledge. You might be wondering why. The reason is that wichever way you put it,you can still say that when you have a great knowledge, you can surely try use it in a proper way to earn lots of money and it may also help you to get out of difficult situations. Overall from my opinion wit helps you get wealth.
July 4th, 2010 at 2:59 pm
I will choose milk of knowledge. Knowledge allows me to learn new information. People can snatch away my money, but they can never snatch away my knowledge, that is for sure.
No matter how wealthy I am, if I do not put my brain to good use, nothing can be done. Wealth cannot buy knowledge.
Those people who choose milk of wealth, think again. Can wealth be compared to knowledge? The answer is no.
July 6th, 2010 at 10:09 am
The milk of knowledge. With knowledge, one can get a good job and receive a good salary.
July 6th, 2010 at 10:10 am
I will definitely choose the Milk of Knowledge as i can use my knowlwedge to get a good job. With that job, i can earn the milk of wealth as well.
July 7th, 2010 at 10:01 am
Of course,the milk of knowledge.With knowledge you can get a good job and succeed in life.As a result,you will also get the milk of wealth too!
July 7th, 2010 at 10:06 am
I will choose the milk of knowledge. Without knowledge how can we study . And with studies I can earn the milk of wealth too.
July 7th, 2010 at 3:32 pm
I will definitely choose the milk of knowledge. Working hard for yourself with the knowledge you have will bring you wealth eventually. That will train you to be hardworking too. You will become a better person for your life. With one stone, hit two birds!:)
July 8th, 2010 at 11:30 am
I would choose the milk of knowledge because knowledge is far more better than wealth because without knowledge you to will not now how to save and how to spent.
July 14th, 2010 at 6:58 pm
I would choose the milk of knowledge because without knowledge, we would not know anything and we will not be able to know anything when we go and work in the future.
July 20th, 2010 at 11:13 am
I would chose the milk of knowledge because without knowledge,a person cannot do anything or know anything.I wanted to chose milk of wealth but I thought that knowledge will stay longer than wealth.Even when our wealth goes away, our knowledge will stay with us for a long time.For me,knowledge is the highest point of my life.
July 20th, 2010 at 11:14 am
I would choose the milk of knowledge as, if we have a lot of knowledge we can earn a lot of money. And without knoledge, we can’t succeed in life. But one day, our money would be over but our knowledge will be there in our mind. Money is not anything in life but knowledge. Without knowledge we will be nowhere. With milk of knowledge we also get a good job.
July 21st, 2010 at 12:58 pm
The milk of knowledge.
July 22nd, 2010 at 9:48 am
I would not choose any becuse we must use our own knowldge to achieve wealth.If it is a must i will choose the milk of knowledge.
July 22nd, 2010 at 9:37 pm
i will not hoose any..
July 29th, 2010 at 8:33 am
The story is very interesting and fun to read. I enjoy it very much the story is very funny.I wish i could read again i will introduce this book to everyone.Ican learn alot of vocbarlary in this .