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One day Tenali Rama learnt that the ruler of Vijayanagar empire, Sri Krishna Deva Raya was a patron of poetry and poets. He silently wished he could also become part of the esteemed king's ministers. One day he saw the royal priest, Thathacharya, who was passing by his town. Rama immediately took the opportunity and professed his wish to be the court jester of Sri Krishna Deva Raya's court. The royal priest promised to introduce him to the king. But that was only a promise.

As days progressed , Tenali Rama grew restless. He himself set out to the kingdom of Vijaya nagar and reached the hosue of the royal priest. The royal priest had no intention of helping Rama. He was taken aback to see Tenali Rama near his house. He told his guards to throw him out. The guards charged at Tenali Rama and threw him out even before he could utter a word.

Hurt by what happened at Thathacharya's house, Tenali Rama loitered around and waited for an opportunity to teach him a lesson. One day, Thathacharya went to a nearyby pond to take bath. He left his new clothes at the nearby rock and went to take a dip in the pond. Tenali Rama seized this opportunity and took away the royal priest's clothes and hid them. After the bath, when the royal priest came out of the pond he was aghast to see his clothes missing. He realised that Rama had his clothes. "Please give my clothes back", he pleaded with Rama. Tenali Rama said, "Only on a condition that you carry me on your shoulders and go near the Vijayanagar palace".

After a lot of thought and unable to bear the chill air, Thathacharya agreed to carry Tenali Rama on his shoulders and went towards Krishna Deva Raya's palace. Standing on the balcony of his palace, Krishna Deva raya was shocked to see a man sitting on the shoulder of his royal priest. Enraged, he called out to his guards to thrash the man who was sitting on the royal priest's shoulders. Tenali Rama noticed that the king saw him.

After crossing the palace, he immediately got down from the priest's shoulders and said, "Master, you have carried me so far. Now, give me the opportunity to carry you.". Before the priest could react, he carried him on his shoulder and started walking. The king's guards who were new to the kingdom did not recognize the royal priest. They mistook Tenali Rama to be the royal priest and thrashed Thathacharya. They summoned Tenali Rama and took him to Krishna Deva Raya. The king was angry to see the man who had been sitting on his priest's shoulder and ordered the guards to send him to jail. Tenali Rama apologised to the king and narrated the complete story of how Thathacharya promised him to take him to Vijaya Nagar kingdom and then broke the promise. He also expressed his wish of becoming a court jester in his court. Listening to Tenali Rama's story, the king was touched and told him that he was glad to make him the court jester of his court. The king also gave tenali Rama a house and gold coins. Thus began tenali Rama's journey as court jester of the Vijayanagar kingdom.