One-upmanship

Once upon a time there was zamindar named Jayapaludu who had descended from a royal family. While the family had lost all their  wealth over time, Jayapaludu was still very proud of his lineage and spent lavishly for even small functions in the house.

It so happened that once he needed five thousand rupees urgently for his friend's son's wedding. Left with no choice, he went to Varadayya to pawn an old sword that he had with him. Varadayya had heard about Jayapaludu' s financial status from different people, but he nevertheless invited him warmly and asked him the purpose of his visit.

'This particular sword has been our family heirloom for many generations and is a symbol of our rich heritage. It was part of a number of famous battles  and is specially made of silver! I am now in a position where I need to pawn this for five thousand rupees', Jayapaludu said with fabricated sadness. 'I will return the five thousand rupees in a month's time with double your usual interest.'

Varadayya was about to draw the sword, when Jayapaludu intervened immediately and said, 'Varadayya, whenever this sword has been drawn from it sheath, it certainly has led to war. We are living in such peaceful times now - why do you want to bring calamity on us by drawing it? Also, this sword should be drawn only by princes. By pawning this sword with you, it is as good as me pawning my family's honour!'

Varadayya could not say no to such an impassioned plea and said, 'Knowing that you are from a royal family who stand on their word, I am accepting this sword. Please ensure that you pay up the amount in a months time and take this back. If you do not pay up within the month, you will need to pay twice the amount - i.e. ten thousand rupees to get the sword back within the year.'

Jayapaludu agreed to these terms and signed the contract.

Jayapaludu was quite happy with himself for having got such a good bargain for his old sword and did not try to redeem his sword at all. After one full year passed, Varadayya was concerned. He was still scared to draw the sword out, but finally took courage and took it to a goldsmith to get it checked.  The goldsmith checked it and said that the sword was not made of silver, but was made of brass coated with silver and that the cost of that sword would not be more than a hundred rupees!

Now, Varadayya was convinced that he had been tricked. To get this money back from Jayapaludu, he thought up a cunning scheme!

One morning, Varadayya made a big scene that robbers attacked his house and took away all his valuables. The whole village got to know about this and sympathized with him. Slowly, this word spread across the village and Jayapaludu also got to know about it. Now, Jayapaludu was convinced that the robbers would have taken his sword along with other valuables from Varadayya' s house.

Without any delay, Jayapaludu raised ten thousand rupees by pawning his wife's jewelry elsewhere and went to Varadayya' s house. As soon as Varadayya saw Jayapaludu, he said 'Look what the robbers have done! Not just my valuables, but they have also taken things which others have pawned with me. Now, how should I respond to people who want to redeem their things? I am not able to find the sword that you had pledged with me!'

Jayapaludu affected extreme anger at this 'Varadayya, I had told you then itself how valuable that sword was for me. It is our family heirloom! If the sword is lost, I will lose my family honour!! If I have to remake such a silver sword, it will cost me at least twenty thousand rupees now!'

'Here, take this ten thousand rupees now and get my sword back. If you do not honour our contract, I will send you to jail!', he threatened.

Varadayya took those ten thousand rupees and went inside and pretended to look for some time. He then came out and coolly said, 'Thank God! I found your sword. I had kept this near my bed and hence the robbers did not take this. With the amount you have given and me returning the sword, our contract is now closed!'

Jayapaludu went back a sadder but wiser man that day. He realized that his scheme to dupe Varadayya did not work and that there were people smarter than him in the world who could pay him back in the same coin!