It takes wit, wisdom and humour to fool others

Read about how great scholars managed to fool others using their wit and wisdom:

Tenali Ramakrishna, Court jester of Srikrishna Devaraya One night some thieves entered Tenali Rama's house. They planned to enter into the bedroom to steal the jewellery. Rama woke up his wife and told her in a loud voice, "All the jewellery is safe as I have put it in the well. Don't worry and sleep peacefully." On hearing these words, the burglars went to the well and began drawing water from the well to find the jewels. While they unwittingly watered the plants around the well searching for the jewels, Rama and his wife slept peacefully. When the thieves realised that the sun had risen, they ran away. Actually gold ornaments were in the house. His presence of mind helped him succeed in all his attempts.

Mark Twain, writer Mark Twain once went to his neighbour and asked him to lend one particular book to him and that he would return it the next day. The neighbour said that he would give the book to Twain only if he promised to read the book in his house only and not take it elsewhere. Twain agreed and read the book in the owner's house. The next week, the neighbour asked Twain to lend him the lawn mover. Twain said, "Of course I will give you the lawn mover but you must use it in my lawn only." The neighbour realised his mistake and appreciated Twain's sense of humour as well.

Abraham Lincoln, Ex-President, USA Abraham Lincoln at first worked as a judge in a mobile court. Once he and his group of lawyers were on their way to a village. Abe was leading the group. On the way, they had to cross a river. Abe got down from the horse, removed his clothes, bundled it up, placed it on his head, sat on his horse and reached the other shore. The lawyers who watched all this from a distance did what Abe did. But when they all got into the river, they wondered why he did so as the water level in the river was not even up to the hooves of the horses. They reached the other shore, where Abe was awaiting. Abe smiled and said, "Lawyers should not imitate. They must use their brains and rise to the occasion",

Kattamanchi Ramalinga Reddy After his return from a foreign country, news reporters met him at the airport and began to put questions. Then Kattamanchi said "Now I need only porters, not reporters." Sarvepally Radhakrishnan, Ex-President of India Once, Radhakrishnan and Md Usman were the speakers in a meeting. Radhakrishnan referred to Usman saying,"Usman is my bosom friend. In college, he was my senior. Next he became my classmate, and then my junior my. When I became the professor, he was the Vice-Chancellor and when I was elevated to the position of Vice-Chancellor, he became the Chancellor." The meeting ended with guffaws from the audience.

Bellary Raghava, theatre artiste Raghava was a well renowned stage actor. Once he was in the role of Chanakya. While he was enacting his part, unexpectedly a dog managed to walk from one end of the stage. The audience laughed on seeing the dog. Then Raghava, with his presence of mind said, "Oh dog! You too have come to this graveyard." With these words the audience turned silent thinking that the dog also was a character in the drama and was a well trained one. Thus he fooled the audience. To fool others, you must be a scholar. P Thyagamurthy Sarma, Madanapalle