Once upon a time in the city of Thirumalpura in the Vijayanagara kingdom, a group of people found an ancient temple, when digging up a certain location. As they dug deeper, it was found to be an ancient temple of Lord Vishnu. This news was immediately informed to king Krishnadevaraya. The king then came to the spot with Tenali Raman and the royal priest. They looked around the excavation site and were marvelling at this ancient wonder. The king then ordered the royal priest to rebuild the temple. He also told him to decorate the surrounding with plants and flowers.
The royal priest agreed and rebuilt the temple accordingly. He planted a garden around the temple with flowers and various plants. When the king came to inspect the place, he took a walk around and inspected everything closely. However, after the walk, he was upset for a reason. THe royal priest asked him as to what had happened. The king said that he had missed out on the most important decoration in the temple of Lord Vishnu. THe royal priest was wondering about what he had missed. Though he thought about it deeply, he was unable to find the decoration he had missed out on.
Tenali Raman then asked the king whether he had gone behind the temple. The king said that he had only gone around the front part of the temple and was yet to visit the back of the temple. Tenali then took the king and the royal priest to the back of the temple. There, a small plant in a pot awaited them. It was a Tulsi plant. On seeing this, the king was extremely happy.
Tenali then explained to the royal priest that no temple of Lord Vishnu was complete without the Tulsi plant. The King was happy that at least Tenali knew about this basic fact. The royal priest hung his head in shame as he did not even know about this basic detail for a temple of Lord Vishnu.
Moral - At first glance, small things may appear insignificant, but they are often the most important things.