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https://archive.org/details/akbarbirbalstoriOO000unse
AKBAR BIRBAL
STORIES
The two historical personalities put
together in a series of stories

Compiled By :
*“KUNWAR’ ANIL KUMAR

MANOJ PUBLICATIONS
©All Rights Reserved

Publishers :
Manoj Publications
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ISBN : 978-81-8133-463-3

= 80

Eighth Edition : 2012

Printers :
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Akbar-Birbal Stories : ‘Kunwar’ Anil Kumar

 EMPEROR AKBAR AND RAJA BIRBAL
Of the many legends that surround the two famous historical
personalities, one the Great Mughal Emperor Akbar and the other, Raja
Birbal—the most wise and witty—the two as narrated here are related
to the induction of Birbal into the royal court of Emperor Akbar, as one
of its famous ‘Nine Gems’.
As per the records available in our history, Akbar was the seventh
generation of Amir Taimurlang, the Turk Emperor of Central Asia. Akbar
was born to Humayun (1508-1556) and Hameeda Banu (Mariam
Makani). Akbar’s real date of birth, as commonly accepted by our
learned historians, has been reckoned as 4 rajab 949 hijaree or 15th
October, 1542', the day being Sunday. He was not an ordinary soul, as
is evident from the description of the dream, which Humayun had on
10th July, 1540 (Friday) in Lahore. Though, there is a mention of the
dream in the book mentioned in the footnote, but | am putting it in my
own words:
‘By the grace of Allah, he (Humayun) is going to be blessed with a
son, the greatness of whom will be strikingly evident from his forehead.
To begin with, Emperor Akbar (1542-1605) was the real founder of
the Mughal Empire in India. He removed all individual distinctions
based on religion, cast and creed and ruled the country for fifty years
with the willing support of its people. He was the first muslim ruler who
divorced religion for the state politics. His attitude towards Hinduism
was conciliatory, as is evident from his general Farman in favour of the
Hindus:°
God is Great
‘Be it known to the karoris and jagirdars of the Parganahs of

—_—k ABUL FAZAL : Akbarnama, Volume 1, p. 183.

2 AKBARNAMA (English Translation), Volume 1, p. 42.
3 Written on De Meher Roz, Eleventh day of Khoredad month, in the 38th
Regnal year, corresponding to 5th June (N.S.) 26th May (O.S.) 1593 A.D. Sth
Ramzan A.H. 1000. Camp, the capital city of Lahore. The seal at the back is
of Abul Fazal, son of Mubarak. Written in Persian.
3
Mathura, Sahare, Mangotah and Od ...... that thereafter no peacocks
are to be slaughtered and no shikar (of them) is to be made in the
neighbourhood of these parganahs. Also there should be no
abstruction to the grazing of the cattle of the people .....
He brought political integration of the great part of the country. He
was able to judge the Indian situation correctly and wisely. He
attempted to win over the leading Rajputs by friendly persuasion,
wherever possible. He promoted natural outlook both in politics and
culture. He was a great statesman and a patron of arts.
Apart from all the above virtues, he had a vice, and that was his
being very fond of women, and he involved himself in this act ignoring
the primacy of dignity and genuineness. With the result, an attempt was
made on his life by Kutalak Faulad on 12 January, 1564.* He was badly
injured, but survived.
However, he had an uncanny ability of collecting able men from
different religion and castes. He had nine gems—1. Sheikh Mubarak
(1505-1592), 2. Sheikh Faizi (1547-95), 3. Abul Fazal (1551-1602),
4. Mulla Abdul Qadir Badayuni (1540-1596), 5. Raja Birbal (1528-
1586), 6. Raja Todermal, 7. Abdurrahim Khankhana (1556-1627),
8. Maharaja Man Singh (1550-1614) and 9. Tansen (1532-1589)—in
his court, and Birbal was one of those famous nine gems, who is still
remembered for his wit and humour.
Before concluding the Akbar’s portion of the note and starting with
Birbal, it will not be out of place to add a few lines to describe the
unfortunate death of Akbar.
During his last days Akbar had become too weak and could breathe
with difficulty. He could hardly speak. At last, after great suffering, he
breathed his last on 15 October, 1605 (Thursday) during night hours. It
Is Said that Akbar was poisoned by Salim. Akbar himself had this
Suspicion, but there is no solid evidence to establish the suspicion.
However, he died at the age of 63 and ruled his kingdom for 49 years,
8 months and 3 days.
The most unfortunate part of his ill-fated death is that, in 1691 A.D.
when Aurangzeb was busy in war against the Marathas in the south, the

4 Tareekh-e-Farishta, Vol. 1, p. 253; Akbarnama, Vol. 2, pp. 204-8; Tareekh-e-

Akbarshahi, pp. 117-20; Muntkhab-ut-Tawareekh, Vol. 2, pp. 62-63.
4
Jats rampaged and plundered the Maqbarah of Akbar, exhumed his
bones and put it on fire.° It’s an irony that those who go to Sikandara to
see his tomb, don’t even know that the tomb doesn’t contain anything
of Akbar. 7
Birbal, who was more like a friend than a courtier to Akbar, was
born in Kalpi, Jalaun district in 1528 A.D. in an educated Brahmabhatt
family. His grandfathers name was Roopdhar, who was an erudite
scholar of Sanskrit. Birbal’s fathers name was Ganga Das and
mother’s name Anabha Devi. Birbal, whose actual name was Mahesh
Das, achieved the rank of a full-fledged poet at a precocious age. It is
for these virtues that he commanded his presense at the court of
Ramchandra Baghel, the king of Bhatha (Reewan). From there, he
went to Bhagwant Das, the king of Aamer; and, it is quite likely that he
was introduced to Emperor Akbar by Bhagwant Das. However, as it
goes down in history on records, Birbal was inducted into the royal
service of Emperor Akbar around the year 1562 or a little earlier. Akbar
became so happy with Birbal’s loyalty, wit, humour and intelligence that
he gave him the title of ‘Veervar and the Jagir of Nagarkoth (A.D. 1572).
It is from ‘Veervar’ that his title was transformed into ‘Birbal’. A
wellknown historian has given an explanation that on the basis of the
rules of Sanskrit philology, according to which when two ‘R’ sounds
occur in close proximity, the latter is pronounced as ‘L.
Birbal worked with Emperor Akbar for 30 years and in the very
beginning, right at the time of his induction into the court, he was given
the Mansab of 2000 horses; which is in itself sufficient to prove that his
appointment was of a special kind. Abul Fazal, another of the Nine
Gems of Akbar’s court, began with 20 horses only.
It was due to his matchless quality of his wit, wisdom, humour and
being capable of wielding the sword equally well, that Birbal rose to a
very high position in the court. Akbar had developed so much faith in
Birbal that he, after the battle of Haldighati, sent him to Raja Rawal
Pratap of Dewari and Rawal Askaran of Doongapur as his ambassador
to intercede with them for Akbar and become his subsidiary kings; and,

5 Niccolao Manucci (An Italian Historian) : Storia do Mogor (Mughal India),

Volume 2, pp. 219-21.
Note : There is another book written by Ishwar Das Nagar ‘Fatoohat-e-
Alamgiri’, which describes the plundering of Akbar’s Maqbarah.
5
also break their political relations with Rana Pratap. He successfully
managed the job to quite an extent. Since, he had become a close
associate of Emperor Akbar, he, at times, used to advise him to bring
improvements in administrative matters. In A.D. 1582 he had advised
Emperor Akbar to appoint a capable and impartial officer to look into
the matters of the downtrodden and the oppressed.
Birbal used to participate in the entertainment programmes also
with Emperor Akbar along with the other Amirs. On 8th October, 1583
while playing Chowgan (now known as Polo) Birbal, suddenly fell down
from his horse and became unconscious. Akbar loved him so much that
he quickly went to Birbal and personally brought him back to
consciousness. Again in 1584 A.D. When Birbal was playing Chowgan
with Emperor Akbar and the Amirs, suddenly a big and ferocious
elephant entered the sports field chasing a passer-by. This elephant
had already killed so many people in the way. Suddenly, its attention
was diverted towards Birbal. The elephant was about to catch Birbal
with his mighty trunk when Akbar, without losing a single moment,
brought his horse between the fierce elephant and Birbal. All the
spectators were aghast and a cry went up in the air. All at once, the
elephant stood still, overcome by the majestic courage. Akbar’s love
was such for Birbal that he endangered his own life to save Birbal.
Birbal’s participation in many important expeditions had proved that
he had a rare combination of a man with pen as well as sword rolled into
one. And this was the reason why Akbar sent Birbal to suppress the
Yusufzais on the North-West frontier, as they had always been a source
of great concern to successive governments of India. The Yusufzai and
the Mandar Afgan tribes, living on the border, had constantly led
marauding attacks on the surrounding region with their restless ways of
life and abhorrence for any authority. Earlier it was Zain Knan who was
sent to tackle the problem; but he couldn’t meet with any success. Later
Sheikh Farid, Sheikh Faizi, Sher Knwaja Fataullah were sent one after
the other with more reinforcements. But even these reinforcements
couldn't do much good. Ultimately, Akbar sent Birbal to help Zain Khan;
and Hakim Abul Fazal was with Birbal as Chief of the army. Zain Khan,
who envied Birbal very much, misled him into entering a narrow pass at
night. The Afgans from all the different corners, having climbed to the
top of the hills, launched a fierce attack with arrows and stones on
6
them. The soldiers lost their way in the narrow defile in the darkness of
the night, and were killed in the holes and caverns. Akbar’s army had to
meet a shameful defeat; and this defeat is also known as the ‘Yusufzai
Disaster. Birbal too perished with entire army. This fateful event took
place on 17th February, 1586. |
The most unfortunate part of this story is that Birbal’s body could
not be found from the battlefield and his funeral could not take place
according to Hindu rites and customs. Akbar had a profound shock at
the news of Birbal’s death and refused to touch food or water or even
to attend the court for two days and two nights.
There was a striking similarity between the deaths of Akbar and
Birbal and this, in some way, goes to prove the preordained relationship
between the two historical figures. The body of Akbar was exhumed by
the Jats and his bones burnt to ashes by them, leaving no trace of him
in the Maqbarah; and Birbal’s body could not be traced in the battlefield.
Birbal had survived with two sons—one, Lala and the other, Haram
Rai. Lala resigned from the royal service of Emperor Akbar in A.D.
1601-2; went and offered his services to Salim in Allahabad.
How many of these witty conversations, which took place between
Akbar and Birbal are true and to what extent, is a matter difficult to find
out today. However, in view of the interest and entertainment these
‘Akbar-Birbal Jokes’ produce, it becomes highly unadvisable to indulge
in such scrutinies. What is needed is that the readers should fully enjoy
the royal wit and humour, these centuries old anecdotes proliferate
around merrily.

— Publishers
 CONTENTS
ss . God’s Blessings 11 20. A Bad Habit
. Like his brother 13 26. Foot on the soil
. When the people thought alike 75 Ze Khoja’s three questions
The continuing story LZ 28. The cobbler’s justice
The shorter stick 20 Pa Birbal and the Unholy brush
. Panditji zl 30. Birbal and Tansen
. The strange condition 24
aie Water versus nectar
. Slip of tongue 28
32. The King of Egypt and
(Cm. How to separate sand
iS
Var?
Cn
on
Oo
his look-alikes
from sugar? 32
33. The hair dye
. The list of fools 33
34. To catch a thief
. The linguist 35
9k The jungle god
. Brief answers 38
36. Three donkeys’ load
. The most valuable thing 39
37. The real test
A forest without animals 43
38. The sightless and the sighted
. The portrait of a courtier 46
39. The wedding of the ocean
. Birbal’s khichdi 48
‘40. The sugar diamond
The gold cain 52
41. The iron rod and the shoe
. The emperor’s dream 54
. The poet & the rich man 55 42. Birbal’s master

. The marriage of akbar 57 43. Birbal’s advice

. Birbal and the child 59 44. The people are without eyes

. The present, past and future 61 45. The angry merchant

. The Royal pleasure 63 46. The eggs of hen

. Birbal and the elephant 65 47. The Emperor’s disguise
48. The hand that gives and Te. The defeat of a Pundit 133
that which takes 101 73. The exceptional jewel 134
49. The horse’s question! 102 74. Life is most dear 136
SU. A drop of perfume ok The revenge 138
and Akbar’s prestige 103 76. The three statues 140
Bay The good things 104 Tole The bag of gold coins 142
ae. The real slave 105 78. The way to heaven 144
53. THe miser and his diamonds 106 (ik The singing Fakir 146
54. The Emperor and the
80. What is in the mind? 147
Holy Book 108
81. Dark below the lamp 149
5D. Birbal’s illness 109
82. Double loss 150
56. The dog’s roti 110
83. The unlucky face 152
Ife “Daulat” 147
84. Measure for measure 154
58. The merchants are cleverer 112,
85. The greatest of all 155
og: A straw in the thief’s beard 114
86. The four things 156
60. The bag of coins ge)
GF. The real owner 158
61. The wail of the river 116
88. The goat’s weight 160
Sz. The merchants’ duty 7
By. Four idiots 162
63. Birbal & the seed of a tree 119
oD: The same thing: 163
64. The idea of the Khojas tea
65. The donkey and the
Sie The reflection of the money 164
Emperor i2Z2Z
o2: The number of lazy men 166
66. A dog and a son-in-law 123
93. The walking carrots 167
67. The value of the Emperor 124
94. The clever thieves 168
68. An Angel and A witch 126 93; The first step of sacrifice 170
69. The bullock carts 127 96. The Emperor's parrot 171
70. The sons-in-law for hanging 129 97; Two women 173
av The pot of wisdom 137 98. Birbal is found 175
 1

GOD’S BLESSINGS
BiRBAL was an honest man with a devout attitude. He used to offer his
prayers to God every day. It made him morally and physically strong.
Birbal would often say, “Whatever God does, He does it only for the
good of the people. Sometimes, He would appear unkind to us, but He
is not. His blessings too are sometimes mistaken for curse. God gives
you a little pain to save you from some greater illness.”
One day, a courtier could not tolerate Birbal speaking in praise of
God. “Look, what God has done to me,” said he. “Last night, | was
chopping straw and grass for the cattle when, | accidently chopped off
my.own little finger. Do you mean to say God has done something good
for me?”

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“| believe so, because whatever God does, He does it only for the
good of a person!”, said Birbal. The courtier became more angry for
Birbal’s unjust attempt to find something good in the act of God that was
11
so painful to him. He lost his finger and yet Birbal said that God was
great. Many other courtiers too supported the views of the angry
courtier.
“We are not convinced, Birbal,” said Akbar. “| believe in God, but |
can not understand why must He always be praised, even when He had
harmed a person. | think that God should not be praised, at least in this
case.
Birbal smiled and said, “Your Majesty, just wait and see.”
Three months passed. One day, the courtier who had lost his finger
went into a dense jungle for hunting. While he was chasing a deer he
was separated from his men. Suddenly a group of tribal people
surrounded him. They believed in human sacrifice. So they captured
the courtier and took him to their temple to sacrifice him before the
deity. The priest of the temple examined his hands and found one finger
missing.
“No, we cannot sacrifice him,” said the priest of the tribal temple. “If
this man with nine fingers is sacrificed to our deity, it will cause harm to
Our community. Our diety will not be appeased with an incomplete
sacrifice. We will be troubled with diseases and heavy rains and flood.
So, let this incomplete man go.”
Thus, the courtier was set free. Soon he returned home.
Next day, he went to Birbal in the court and began to weep! When
Akbar entered the courtroom, he was surprised to see the courtier
weeping before Birbal.
“What has happened to you?” asked the Emperor.
The courtier narrated the whole story.
“Now | believe that whatever God does, He does it only for the good
of a person! If | had not lost my finger in an accident | would have been
sacrificed. This is the reason why | am weeping. These are the tears of
happiness. | am happy that | am still alive. |was wrong to criticise Birbal
for his faith in God.
Akbar smiled and looked at the face of his courtiers as if to say in
silence that he, too, was happy to have a person like Birbal with him in
the court.
OU
12
 2
LIKE HIS BROTHER
Axksar’s mother died when he was very young. As he was then just a
baby, he needed mother’s milk for his nourishment. There was a nurse
in the palace. She too had a baby and used to breast-feed it. She
agreed to breast-feed young Akbar also. So Akbar and the baby of the
nurse both shared the breast milk of the nurse. The name of the nurse’s
son was Husif. Since Husif and Akbar both shared the milk of the same
woman, they were like brothers. Akbar had great love for Husif.
- Years passed. Akbar became the Emperor and proved himself to
be the most powerful ruler of India. But Husif could not become even an
ordinary courtier in the royal court. He befriended people, who loved to
gamble and spend money on useless things. Gradually, there came a
time when Husif had no money to pay even for the two square meals a
day. People advised him to go and meet Akbar.
Seeing Husif, Akbar embraced him as if he was his own real
brother. He was very happy to see Husif after such a long time. He
wanted to help him in every possible manner.
So, Akbar appointed Husif asa courtier in his court. Husif was given
a big house, servants, and carriages. He was also paid a huge sum of
money every month for his personal expenses.
“| shall be pleased to cater for your other requirements also; if any.
Please don’t hesitate,” said Akbar to Husif.
“Already what you have given me is enough for me to live a
luxurious life, Your Majesty,” said Husif. “You placed me in a respectable
position. | can now walk with dignity! No one is happier than me now.
Besides, it is a great honour to me that the Emperor of this country has
brotherly relations with me. What more should | want from you?”
Saying so Husif scratched his head and flashed an obliging smile.
13
He seemed to be in need of something else.
“Well, | feel that |should be in the company of someone like Birball,”
said Husif. “He is an intelligent man. | too want someone like him to
advise me, the way he advises you.”
The Emperor decided to fulfil the wish of Husif. He called Birbal.
“Husif is like a brother to me,” he said to Birbal. “Il gave him everything
to live a life in comfort, but he wants someone like you to talk with. So
| want you to find out someone who must be very much like you, say, like
your own brother who will be able to amuse my brother. He may not be
talkative, but whatever he utters, should have some deeper meaning.
Do you understand me, Birbal?”
“Yes, Your Majesty!” said Birbal, “You want me to find someone who
is like my brother.’
“Right,” said the Emperor.
Birbal began to think of persons who were like brothers to him.
Husif was lucky to have a brother like Akbar to bless him with all the
comforts. But Birbal did not like the way Husif had asked for someone
like him. Akbar had great regards for Birbal. Birbal too had love and
regards for the Emperor. But Husif in any case, did not deserve to have
someone at his side. like Birbal was at Akbar’s.
Just as Birbal was thinking of some way to solve the matter, a bull
from the cowshed began to bellow. Birbal sprang up on his feet. At last
he had found someone who was like his brother.
Next day, he went to see the Emperor in the palace along with the
bull.
“Why have you brought this bull here, Birbal?” asked the Emperor.
“He is my brother, Your Majesty,” said Birbal. “Because, both of us
were nourished by the milk of the same mother cow, therefore, this bull
is like my brother. He speaks less, but can advise on any issue only if
the listener can understand him. So this bull fulfils the desire of Husif to
have someone like me.”
Akbar was amused. Birbal had opened his eyes, and made clear
that there could be no other person like Birbal, as there could be no
other person like Akbar. Both were unmatched.
re
14
 3
WHEN THE PEOPLE THOUGHT ALIKE
THE proceedings in the court were in full swing. The courtiers were busy
discussing a subject that was very important from the point of view of
administration. They were expressing their opinion about the matter
one by one. The Emperor observed that everyone had one’s own
opinion. The Emperor now began to wonder why people could not think
alike! :
“Why do people always tend to think differently, Birbal?” Akbar
asked Birbal.
“It doesn’t happen always, Your Majesty!”, said Birbal. “There are
issues of common concern also, when people mostly think alike.”
The same evening, when the Emperor was taking a stroll in the
garden, he opened the issue again and began discussing with Birbal.
“There is a well near that tree,” said Birbal, pointing his finger
toward a well in the garden. “l will try to prove that when there is an
issue common to all people, they think alike. In other words, there are
many issues on which people do not differ with each other.”
Akbar stared at the well for a few seconds and then said, “But | do
not understand, what course you would adopt to prove your point”
“IP, said Birbal. “Please arrange to make a royal announcement
that all the householders of this city should come here in this garden
with a potful of milk on the day of the new moon and pout it into the well.
This is a big city and if every householder pours a potful of milk in the
dry well, it would soon be full of milk.”
The Emperor amused at this idea and began to laugh.
He then, passed an order as advised by Birbal. The royal
announcement was made throughout the city that every householder
should carry a potful of milk to the garden of the Emperor on the day of
15
the new moon and pour it into the well of the garden.
So, on the day of the new moon, people queued up in the garden.
They were seen with pots of milk in their hands making a bee line to
pour it into the well. The Emperor and Birbal watched the people dong
this from a distance and exchanged smiles.
Pouring of milk into the well was over before the evening. It was
noted that all the householders of the capital or their representatives
had taken part in this activity.
Then the Emperor and Birbal walked up to the well and looked into
it. The well was full to the brim, but both of them noticed with
astonishment that the well was not with any milk but with plain water
only! There was no sign of milk at all!
Akbar looked at Birbal with great surprise and said, “How’s it? The
announcement was made for pouring milk and not water; why then
these people poured water into the well?”
Birbal had a hearty laugh at this and said, “That is what | had been
trying to prove, Your Majesty! | had told you that there are issues on
which people think alike, and this is one such instance. People wanted
to save their precious milk. They thought that pouring of a potful of milk
into a dry well was quite useless. They were not going to get anything
out of it. So everyone brought a potful of water and thinking that no
other person would ever get an idea of what he carried in his pot. The
ultimate result is that the well is full of water only and there is no milk.”
The Emperor looked at Birbal admiringly and patted on his back
affectionately. Birbal had proved his point of view that there were issues
on which people thought alike.
Eres

16 AKBAR BIRBAL STORIES—}

 4
THE CONTINUING STORY
THe Emperor was suffering from fever. A group of physicians was busy
looking after him. Some courtiers were trying to flatter the Emperor,
sitting by his bedside. The Emperor, due to pain in his chest, was
turning sides in his bed. Yet the courtiers were talking to him.
“Why have you allowed the courtiers to talk to the Emperor?” Birbal
asked the physicians.”
“Well, its just that we asked them to tell the Emperor some stories,’
said a physician. “His Majesty is not getting proper sleep. Our
medicines are not proving to be very effective. So, in order to regale him
with some interesting stories, we have allowed the courtiers to talk to
him.”
“But |am constrained to tell you that they are not telling him stories;
they are only flattering him!” said Birbal. “They are telling him how
strong and handsome he is. They are telling him how bravely he killed
four tigers in only one day and how courageously he fought his enemies
and how valiantly he led his army in wars. Don’t you see how
uncomfortable he is feeling now? Ask themto leave him alone. | shall
myself try to send him to sleep.”
Then a senior physician went to the Emperor’s bed and said to the
courtiers, “Please give Birbal a chance to tell the Emperor a story. You
all know that our Emperor loves to be in the company of Birbal.”
The courtiers were annoyed to hear that, but as their stories had
failed to send the Emperor to sleep, they were forced to follow the
advice of the senior physician.
“How | longed to see you, Birbal!” said the Emperor in a low tone.
“| just returned to Delhi today and was informed that you were ill,”
said Birbal. “The physicians are confident that you will be all right within
17
a couple of days. But you must get proper sleep and for that | shall tell
you a story.”
“My courtiers were trying to send me to sleep by telling stories, but
| could not get to sleep.” said the Emperor.
“Recounting stories of bloody wars, of killing men or animals, can
never send you to sleep. Try to free yourself from such violent thoughts.
Think of flowers, mountains, rivers, flocks of birds, green fields, children
playing on the green grass, and that will bring good sleep to you,” said
Birbal.
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Akbar understood the depth of Birbal’s advice; he closed his eyes

and began thinking about the beauties and charms of nature, of the
creation of the Almighty and became absolutely quiet.
After some time the Emperor yawned and said “Now| am feeling
sleepy,’.
“Good!”, said Birbal. “Now | tell you a story—One day, a flock of
birds was flying in the sky. The birds were in search of food. As they
could not find any food nearby, they flew ahead and reached near a
village. There the birds found plenty of grains kept in several big baskets
with no lids over them. The farmers had removed the lids of the baskets
18
to dry the grains in the sun. The birds ate to their hearts’ content. Then
a wise sparrow suggested, “As we have discovered a stock of food here
and since, there are no guards around, we can take advantage of this
golden opportunity. Look, the farmers have made huge baskets, using
twigs and straws to store grains for their future use. We too can follow
this example and store up plenty of grains for the future. We are twenty
of us. Ten of us will make baskets under the banyan tree and the rest
will carry the grains from this place to our home, the banyan tree. We
will make several trips until the evening and again we shall come back
tomorrow.”
All the sparrows agreed. Ten of the twenty sparrows started
collecting leaves and straws to weave baskets and the remaining ten of
them started carrying food grains in their beaks for making a store of
grains.
Suddenly Birbal became silent. The Emperor waited for a minute
and then said with curiosity, “Why have you stopped, Birbal? What
happened to the sparrows? You are telling me a children’s story”
The physicians and others laughed. The Emperor opened his eyes,
“Well. tell me, what happened next?”
“Oh, your majesty, please wait till evening!” said Birbal. “The
sparrows are one, two, three, four, five......! still collecting grains and
taking to their home in the banyan tree. The sparrows are picking up
grains in their beaks, flying off and returning again and again and
again......! The other sparrows are busy weaving baskets in the banyan
tree.
“Oh, | am feeling drowsy now!” said the Emperor. Soon he began to
snore. The physicians then heaved a sigh of relief and thanked Birbal
for his efforts.
Birbal had just narrated to the Emperor a simple children’s story.
The birds in the story were shown constantly carrying the grains and
thus the story was in continuation and never came to an end. This
greatly amused the Emperor and he soon went to sleep.
OO
19
 9
THE SHORTER STICK
One day, Akbar and Birbal were taking a stroll in the garden. Birbal was
narrating a funny story to Akbar. Akbar was enjoying it. All of a sudden
Akbar found a piece of bamboo lying on the ground. He got an idea to
tease Birbal. He showed the piece of bamboo to Birbal and asked him,
“Can you make this stick shorter without chopping it?”
Birbal stopped telling the story and looked into Akbar’s eyes. Akbar
smiled at him mischievously. Birbal knew that Akbar was in a mood to
have some fun with him. However, an odd question should have an
equally odd answer. Birbal looked around. He saw a gardener walking
around with a long bamboo stick in his hand. Birbal beckoned to him.
EG
W
inte
ig:
ih!
\i <p \ rine
i n D4
When the gardener came near, he took the stick from him and held
it in his right hand. Then he held the bamboo stick, that the Emperor
had given him, in his left hand. “Now please look at this stick,” said
Birbal to the Emperor. “Your stick now looks shorter? | have not
chopped it, yet it now appears shorter because I’m holding the
gardener’s stick which is longer.”
Akbar was pleased to hear and patted on Birbal’s shoulders.
OQ
20
 6
PANDITJi
It was almost evening. The visitors had left one by one. But Birbal
noticed a fat man still standing shyly in a corner.
Birbal came forward and said. “I think you have got something to tell
me. Have no hesitation! Please tell me. What is your problem?” said
Birbal.
“Well, my problem is that | am not a learned man,” said the fat man.
“| didn’t persue my studies well. Now | repent of it. |want to become a
respectable man in the society. But it is too late.”
“It’s never too late. If you work hard, you can still be a learned man,’
said Birbal.
“But it will take years to gain knowledge,” said the fat man. “I cannot
wait for long to earn fame. | want to know if there is a quick method to
become famous.”
“There is no short-cut method to become famous,” said Birbal. “If
you want to be a man of wisdom and earn fame, you will have to work
hard, and that too for quite some time.”
“No sir, |have no patience,” said the fat man. “I immediately want to
become famous and be known as ‘Panditji’.”
Birbal knew that the fat man was simply interested in being known
as Panditji—a learned man.
“Well,” said Birbal. “Here is a short-cut method for you. Tomorrow
you wait near the market-place. My men will be there and they will
address you as Panditji. They will repeat this again and again and ina
loud voice. This will attract the attention of others too. They will also
start calling you Panditji. It's very natural also. But the drama will be
successful only when you show anger and start throwing stones at
them, or chase them with a stick in your hand. But be careful! You
21
should only pretend to attack. See that you don’t really hurt anyone.”
Next morning, as told by Birbal, the fat man stood near a busy
market-place. Birbal’s men appeared there and started calling him ina
loud voice—‘Panditji! Panditji! Panditji! Panditji!”
The fat man picked up a stick from the road and chased Birbal’s
men pretending to hit them. Birbal’s men took to their heels but they
continued to repeat the word ‘Panditji’ in a loud voice. Soon a number
of young boys loitering around, started shouting—Panditji!, Panditji!,
Panditji!”
|om om com

LLLA
ILS Li, =
Zip” tbe

Soon a funny scene was created. The fat man was chasing the
people and the people were dancing and laughing, calling him—
Panditji!
This made the fat man become popular as Panditji. Whenever
people saw him they would start calling him—Panditji. Actually, people
made fun of him as they knew he would chase them like a mad man with
a stick in his hand. But the fat man was happy to think that, at least, he
was a famous man.
22
 Months passed. The fat man was tired. Now he realised that it was
not out of respect that people called him—Panditji. They only enjoyed
calling him Panditji, as they thought that he would get angry to hear
someone calling him Panditji. “Do they take me for a mad man?” he
questioned to himself.
This thought bothered him so much that he again went to see
Birbal.
“| don’t want to be known simply as Panditji,” he said to Birbal. “I
loved being called Panditji and | really enjoyed this status for many
days. But | am tired now. People do not respect me. They only make fun
of me.”
Hearing the fat man lament over his fate, Birbal laughed and said “I
had told you that you cannot pretend yourself to be a learned man for
a long time. People will never call you what you are not. Do you think
they are all fools? Now go to some other town for a few months. When
you return, just ignore the people who will then try again to make fun of
you, calling you—Panditji. Behave like a nice, sober man. Soon people
will come to realise that there is no fun in calling you—Panditji, and so
they will gradually forget about it.
The fat man followed Birbal’s advice. When he returned from the
other town after a few months, people tried to tease him by calling
him—Panditji, but he ignored them.
Now the fat man was happy to be known by his own name. From
this incident he learnt a lesson that there was no quick method to
become famous.
OQ

23
 7
THE STRANGE CONDITION
THERE lived two popular moneylenders in the city of Delhi by the name
of Ramdas and Dhandas. Ramdas was an honest man. He used to
charge very low interest on the loan he gave to his borrowers. It was just
five more gold coins on a loan of one hundred gold coins. Even this loan
the borrower could return after a period of one year. But Dhandas being
a greedy man, used to charge twenty five gold coins as interest on a
loan of one hundred gold coins. Further, he would collect the interest in
advance. If someone wanted to borrow one hundred gold coins from
Dhandas, he would get only seventy five gold coins because twenty five
gold coins would be deducted as interest. Dnandas had musclemen
who would harass his borrowers for recovering the money. But Ramdas
would never harass his borrowers. Sometimes, he would not even
charge any interest, if he found that the borrower was too poor to pay
the interest. People would go to Dhandas, only when they could not get
any loan from the other moneylenders. If they could get a loan from
Ramdas, they would not go to other moneylenders. However, for most
of the days they failed to get money from Ramdas. Ramdas had a large
number of borrowers in his list, but most of them did not return the
money in time. They would retain the money with them for many years,
without caring to return. So, it was not possible for Ramdas to bring
more money to lend to all the men who visited him every day?
One day, Ramdas’s old friend, Shadimal, met Ramdas and
requested him, “I am in need of one lakh gold coins.” he said, “and if |
do not get the money, my business will suffer a heavy loss.”
“If some of my borrowers return the money today, | shall give that to
you, said Ramdas. Then pointing towards the persons sitting there he
said. “Look, fifteen persons have come to my shop. They all want
money very urgently, This ‘is a marraige season. Some of them want
A 24
money for the marriage of their daughters. But most of them do not
need more than one thousand coins. Your need is for one lakh. So, even
if |get some money today, | shall meet their requirement first, and thei
only | shall be able to think about you. Please wait till evening *or
tonight, you stay with me in my house and take rest. Your horses wiil be
taken care of by my men.”
“But you must not disappoint me, my friend,” said Shadimal. “I will
return the money on or before the night of next Diwali. It is a promise.”
The same evening, when Ramdas closed his shop, he had only
twenty five thousand gold coins with him. Whereas he had to lend
money to fifteen borrowers.

Ramdas very much wanted to do something for his friend, so he

decided to go to Dhandas for his friend’s sake.
“Well,” said Dnandas to Ramdas, “You have spoilt my business. You
try to be a generous person and charge a low interest on the loans, but
| will charge you at my usual rate. You will get seventy five thousand
gold coins only, as against your signature for one hundred thousand.
You must return the money on or before the day of Diwali. If you fail to
do so, you will allow me to cut one seer of flesh from your back!”
25
 Ramdas was shocked to hear this strange condition of Dhandas.
“Even if half a seer of flesh is sliced off a man’s back, he will die,”
said Ramdas. “Do you want to kill me?”
“Well, for the sake of money, you will have to do what | say,’ said
Dhandas.
Ramdas for the sake of his friend signed on the agreement and
returned home with seventy five thousand gold coins. He added twenty
five thousand gold coins from his own and gave the amount to his
friend. Shadimal was well aware how his friend had borrowed money
from Dhandas.
“| did not feel good when you went to Dhandas,” said Shadimal. “|
will return all the money before the night of Diwali.”
But Shadimal failed to fulfil his promise. Dhandas came there
laughing sarcastically, with a knife in his hand!
“The night of Diwali has already gone,’ said Dhandas loudly. “Now
be prepared to fulfil the condition of the agreement!”
A crowd gathered there. Most of the people were against Dhandas
“Give him one or two days more” the crowd shouted at Dhandas.
“No,” Dhandas said, “| must now chop off a seer of flesh from his
back!”
Ramdas'’s wife and children were wailing helplessly! Ramdas asked
them to be calm and said, “It was a pre-condition, and so | must follow
Ite
Suddenly they saw four horse riders coming towards them. One of
them was Shadimal.
“lam sorry Ramdas!” Shadimal said, “| became late due to bad
weather. Anyhow, here is the money. Please give these to Dnandas and
destroy the papers of agreement.”
“Now the money is of no use, because the time is over” said
Dhandas.
“But we are giving you your money back, and if you so want, | can
give you some more”, said Shadimal. “My friend had to sign an
agreement with you because of me. He is my true friend.”
“To hell with you and your friendship. | must get a seer of flesh from
26
his back!” insisted Dhandas. “I want his flesh only as per the
agreement.”
“May | see the agreement?” They heard a man saying. He was
standing at a little distance with the rein of his horse in his hand.
The people immediately recognised that the horse rider was Raja
Birbal.
“| was passing through this area and some people informed me that
a moneylender was demanding a seer of flesh from the other
moneylender, who had borrowed some money from him.”
“Please do justice to my friend!” Shadimal came near Birbal and
pleaded with folded hands.
“| know your friend is an honest man,” said Birbal. “| am always in
favour of honest people.” |
“If Raja Birbal favours Ramdas, | will go to the Emperor’s court,
said Dhandas. The crowd jeered at him.
Birbal said nothing. He read the agreement’s conditions and said,
“Yes, you can cut off one seer of flesh from the back of Ramdas! But
remember, not a drop of blood should drip from the flesh! Tate condition
is only for the flesh and not for the blood!”
The crowd screamed with joy! Now Dhandas would be unable to
fulfil his evil intention.
Dhandas looked at Birbal angrily. He said, “All right, you give me my
money back; | do not want his flesh.”
“No, you will not get the money even,” said Birbal. “You refused to
take the money. You insisted on chopping off his flesh, and so it is clear
that you only wanted to kill Ramdas. How could a murderous person be
allowed to go unpunished? You must lose your seventy five thousand
gold coins and learn a lesson.”
The crowd praised Birbal for his justice.
Birbal mounted his horse. The crowed waved at him. Ramdas and
Shadimal folded their hands to show respect to Raja Bribal and Birbal
smiled at them all. He was happy that he could save the life of an honest
man.
OO
24g
 8
SLIP OF TONGUE
Once an old man decided to go on a pilgrimage. He worked hard and
earned some money to save for the future. When he planned to go out
on a tour, he thought of a safer place to keep his money.
He took out the pot of money which he used to keep hidden in a
secret place. Then he closed all the doors and windows of his house
and counted his money.
There were four thousand gold coins in all. “I shall take two
thousand gold coins with me to meet my expenses,” he thought to
himself. “I think it will be enough for the tour lasting for about six months.
Most of the other group members will be carrying the same amount. It
will be risky to carry excess money while passing through the jungle.
There may be robbers in the way. | will be returning from my journey
tired and exhausted and | shall have to relax for some time. In that case
| shail need some money, if | have to sit at home.Since, | shall be
carrying only two thousand gold coins, |can manage my affairs with the
rest of the two thousand gold coins during the idle period. But where to
leave it? Burying it will be equally unsafe. What will happen if | leave it
with someone, and on my return, he denies to have received it from me.
But, however, Sukhram is a rich man. He can be trusted with any
number of gold coins.”
So, having finally decided, the old man met his rich friend Sukhram
and requested him to keep his bag containing two thousand gold coins.
Sukhram took the bag of gold coins gladly and promised to return it
when the old man came back after six months.
The old man thoroughly enjoyed his journey and returned to his
native place after six months. He went to his friend Sukhram and gave
him some sweets and said. “Ah! It was a nice journey. | travelled to
28
many places in the South and in the East.”
“Well,” said Sukhram. “I have no time to listen to your travelogue.”
“All right. | see, you are a busy man. But, at least, give me my
money bag containing two thousand gold coins. You know it, | need the
money now.” said the old man.
“What are you talking about?” Sukhram shouted at the old man. “I
had not taken any gold coins from you. You must have given it to
someone else. Go and find him. You gave me some sweets. If you so
wish, | can pay for it. | know you draw satisfaction, calling me your
friend. | have never objected to it, otherwise, a poor man can never
become a friend of a rich man like me.”
The old man began to wail. “Please return my money! Please have
pity on me, Sukhram, my friend! | left the money with you only because
| trusted you! Please return my money.”
A small crowd gathered around. Two men confronted Sukhram.
“We know, this man never speaks a lie,” one of them said to Sukhram.
“You must return his money.”
“Look, he calls me his friend, but under the veil of friendship, he is
trying to take advantage of my simplicity and my show of friendliness to
him,” said Sukhram. “If he so wishes, | can help him with a few gold
coins. But tell him not to call me a liar and try to make a fool of me.”
“Soon we will know who is right and who is wrong,” remarked one.
“All of us shall now go to Raja Birbal. Only he will be able to do justice.”
So Sukhram had to go to Birbal’s house.
Birbal listened to them one by one. The old man was in tears! But
Sukhram looked aggressive and exhibited every sign of cunningness. “|
am a simple man and it is because of my simplicity that he is trying to
take advantage of me”. Sukhram repeated. Birbal looked at the faces of
Sukhram and the old man, but he could not make out as to who was
telling the truth and who was the liar.
“Who was with you when you gave the bag to Sukhram.” Birbal
asked the old man.
“There was none else except Sukhram and myself,” replied the old
29
man. “There is no way | could have known that he would cheat me. If
only | had the slightest idea of that, | would never have given him the
money.” .
“But you will have to bring someone here to give witness for you,”
said Birbal. “Just remember who else was there around you when you
handed over the bag to Sukhram. If you fail to bring any witness, it will
go to prove that you are telling a lie.”
“Oh, God!” cried the old man, “Now you too Say like this? | told you,
there was nobody around except only for some trees and birds.”
“Then go and request the trees to come here!” said Birbal. “You can
request the birds also to come here. Don’t worry, | will understand their
language. Even if you could manage to persuade a tree to come here,
the problem will be solved.”
“But how will a tree come here?” asked a man. “How do you expect
the birds to come here to give witness? We are all baffled to hear you
speak like that.”
“You should understand, that only a miracle can now save him?”
said Birbal. “If he cannot bring any tree or birds here, he will go to jail.
But | hope that, even nature will break its rules for doing justice.”
“All right. | will request the trees and birds to come here,” said the
old man.
“He has got a chance to escape now. | am sure, he will run away,”
remarked Sukhram.
“| will never,’ said the old man and went away to call the trees and
birds.
“How is it that your old friend has not returned yet?” Birbal asked
Sukhram.
“| think he has run away,” replied Sukhram immediately.
“But we shall have to wait,” said Birbal. “Is that place too far?”
“It will take about one hour to reach and one hour to come back,”
replied Sukhram. “But | am sure he has not gone towards my garden.”
“But still we will have to wait,” said Birbal.
The old man returned after about three hours and said, “| requested
30
the trees to come with me, | requested the birds to come with me. But
no one has ever heard of trees and birds giving witness. You wanted me .
to act like a mad man and, so, | did. Now what should | do?”
“Now you will go and sleep comfortably inside the jail’, said
Sukhram.
But Birbal gestured, and the guards arrested Sukhram. Everyone
present there began to look at him with surprise. They couldn’t believe
when Birbal told them that a miracle would take place; yet they waited
patiently to see how the guilty would be punished. The old man was not
punished, instead Sukhram was arrested.
“Now you return the bag of gold coins to this old man,” said Birbal
to Sukhram. “The guards will produce you before the Emperor for his
judgement. You tried to betray your friend who kept with you his hard-
earned money and trusted in your friendship.”
“But how do you pronounce me guilty?” asked Sukhram.
“How did you know that the old man would go to your garden?”
asked Birbal. “You just told me that it would take one hour to reach your
garden. No one knew that the old man had handed over the money to
you in your garden. You tried to act clever, but you talked about your
garden by slip of tongue and that was the truth that you never wanted
to tell.”
“We too had a doubt that Sukhram was guilty,’ said one man. “But
we were unable to prove it. But we must thank you, sir, for outwitting
Sukhram and for saving a poor man.”
“lam always at the side of justice and truth,’ said Birbal.
“You are a great man! Honourable Raja Birbal!” said the old man.
Then he turned to Sukhram and said, “You have not yet confessed your
crime.” |
Sukhram held the old man’s hands and began to sob!
“Please forgive me! | tried to deceive you!” said Sukhram.
Birbal thanked the crowd and became busy with others who had
come to seek his help.
OU
31
 9
HOW TO SEPARATE SAND FROM SUGAR?
One day, a courtier entered the court, holding a glass jar in his hands.
“What is there in that jar?” asked the Emperor.
“Your Majesty. It’s a mixture of sand and sugar,” replied the courtier.
“What for?” asked Akbar again.
“Excuse me, Your Majesty!” said the courtier. “We want to test
Birbal’s intelligence. We want him to separate each and every grain of
Sugar from the sand.”
“Look Birbal, almost every day there is a new challenge before you,”
Akbar said and smiled. “You have to separate the sugar from the sand
without dissolving it.”
“It’s quite easy, Your Majesty,” said Birbal. “It is just a child’s play.”
Birbal took the pot and went out of the court. The courtiers followed
him. Birbal went to the garden and scattered the sand and sugar
mixture on the ground around the trunk of a mango tree.
“Why have you done this?” asked a courtier.
“We will know the results by tomorrow,” replied Birbal.
Next day, they went near the mango tree in the garden and found
that there were only sand grains lying on the ground. The sugar grains
had been carried home by innumerable ants of the nearby ant-hill! A
few ants could be seen still busy carrying sugar grains to their ant-hill.
“But where has all the sugar vanished?” asked a courtier.
“Separated,” whispered Birbal in his ear.
All of them laughed.
“If you want to find the sugar, just follow the ants into their homes!”
said the Emperor and all the courtiers began to laugh loudly.
OO

32 AKBAR BIRBAL STORIES—2

 10
~THE LIST OF FOOLS
Axsar loved horse-riding to such an extent that he would pay any
amount for the horse he liked. Merchants from distant lands as far as
from Arabia, Persia and some other countries used to visit his court with
strong and beautiful horses. The Emperor paid handsomely for the
horses, he chose for his personal use. He would buy the other horses
for his army that were not of his personal choice. Horse-traders were
doing a lucrative business in Akbar’s court.
One day, a horse-trader asked for some money in advance. The
trader was a new face and was rather unknown to other traders of his
community. He sold two beautiful and sturdy horses to Akbar and told
him that he could bring hundred more such horses of the same
pedigree, only if he was paid half the price of the horses in advance.
The Emperor ordered his treasury to pay the money to the new
trader as asked by him. The treasurer took the trader to his office to pay
the money. No one liked Akbar paying a huge sum of money to a new
trader in advance. But they had no courage to utter a word in the matter.
_ All of them wished Birbal to take up the issue. Birbal too seemed very
unhappy over the horse deal. So he said to Akbar, “Only yesterday you
ordered me to prepare a list of fools living in this city, | am sorry to say
that your name appears at the top of the list!”
The Emperor's face turned red with anger! He was being humiliated
by Birbal in front of his courtiers and guests from other countries.
“How dare you call me a fool?” Akbar shouted at Birbal.
“| beg your pardon, Your Majesty!” said Birbal, bowing his head
before the Emperor and said. “You may chop off my head. If you think
| am wrong to say that you top the list of fools that you have asked me
to prepare.”
: 33
 With his right hand raised and first finger pointing towards Birbal,
Akbar advanced towards him. All the people present in the court held
their breath. Anxiety loomed large over their faces. The Emperor might
chop the head of Birbal off. No one had ever dared to call the Emperor
a fool.
But Akbar only rested his hand across Birbal’s shoulder. He wanted
to know the reason. Birbal understood it and said, “You earned the top
place in my list of fools, because you ordered a large amount of money
to be paid to a new trader whose identity has not yet been fully verified.
He can very well deceive you. He may not come here again. He might
go and settle in some other country and you will not be able to trace
him. One must know a person well before making a deal with him. That
man sold you only two horses and you were so charmed that you
agreed to pay him a large sum. That’s the reason why | give you the top
piace in my list of fools!”
“Go to the treasury and stop the payment to the new trader.” Akbar
ordered his men to run and convey his orders to the treasurer.
“Now | will not put your name in my list of fools,” said Birbal.
Akbar stared at him for a few seconds, turned his gaze over the
people watching him, and began to laugh. All the people there heaved
sighs of relief that the Emperor had ultimately realised his mistake; they
too laughed happily and praised Birbal for his courage and wisdom.
OO

34
 11
THE LINGUIST
A linguist is a person who is accomplished in several languages. One
day, a linguist arrived at the gate of the palace and began to talk with the
guards in Urdu. There were some other guards from UP and Bihar; so,
he talked to them in Hindi. There were some with whom he talked in
Tamil and Telugu. All he wanted was to see the Emperor. |
“Why do you want to see our Emperor?” the head of the guards
wanted to know.
The guard talked to the head of the guards of the court and allowed

lai
the man to see the Emperor.

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Entering into the court, the man bowed before the Emperor. After
finishing his talks with a royal guest from another country, the Emperor
35
asked the man. “You must be coming from a distant place. Tell me, why
is it that you want to see me?
“Your Majesty, | am just a traveller.” replied the man. “I do not want
any undue favour from you. | don’t want money. | have come to see your
court. Your courtiers are said to be the best brain in Hindustan. But can
anyone in your court tell me what is my mother-tongue?”
“So, you must have mastered a number of languages, | suppose,”
said the Emperor. “l am happy to know that you do not have any greed
for reward or anything like that but, at least, you can accept our
hospitality. Please take rest in our guest-house. Be fresh, have some
meals. We will discuss this issue tomorrow. | too, am interested to know
the number of languages that you have accomplished.”
Suddenly a courtier started talking to him in Punjabi. The man
smiled and answered him in Punjabi.
“He is a Punjabi, Your Majesty,” said the courtier from Punjab.
But the man said, “No, my mother-tongue is not Punjabi.”
“He is a Gujarati. His mother-tongue is Gujarati, Your Majesty!” said
the two soldiers who had spoken with him in Gujarati. But the man said,
“No, | am not a Gujarati.”
“He is from U.P.” said the guards who had talked to him earlier at
the gate. But the man denied that he ever belonged to U.P.
“His mother-tongue is Urdu and he is either from Delhi or from
Aligarh,” said the other official of the palace who too had talked to the
man earlier.
Then aman from Assam, talked to him in Assamese and said, “Il am
sure he is an Assamese.” But the man said, “I will not disclose what my
mother-tongue is. If | go on suggesting to you like that, you will
ultimately know what my mother-tongue is. |might have told you lies in
this respect. It is no fun trying all the languages on me. | will just say, no.
You can speak with me in Marathi, Gujarati, Bengali, Telugu,
Malayalam, Kannada, Kokni, Tulu Santhali or any other languages
spoken by the people of different regions in our country.”
“This is quite a challenge to all of us,” said Akbar. “All he wants is
36
someone accepting his challenge to find out his mother-tongue, and
prove it too.”
“| accept his challenge,” said Birbal. “But | agree with you, Your
Majesty, that he needs a night’s rest.”
So the man was taken to the guest-house to take some rest. He
was happy that there was someone in Akbar’s court who accepted his
challenge.
It was midnight. The traveller was sleeping peacefully on his cot. He
was served a tasty meal which he had eaten to his heart’s content.
There was an oil-lamp burning in that room. Suddenly, a tall figure,
covered from head to foot with a blanket, entered that room and put out
the lamp. It was a dark night with a star-filled sky outside the window.
The mysterious figure who tiptoed into the room took out a match
stick from his pocket and inserted it lightly into the nostrils of the
sleeping man. “Ha, ha, hachoo!” The man suddenly woke up, sneezing
loudly and saw a tall, blanket covered figure standing in front of him.
“Oh, Mother Kali! Save me from this ghost.” the traveller yelled out
in Bengali.
“So you are a Bengali?” asked the tall figure. “Please come in, Your
Majesty. The mystery is solved.”
Then to his utter surprise, the man saw the Emperor, followed by
other courtiers and guards, entering the room! The man who frightened
him was none other than Birbal. They all looked happy and smiling.
“When you are suddenly frightened by something, you speak in
your mother-tongue.” said Birbal to the traveller. “You prayed to your
God in Bengali and | am sure you are a Bengali.”
The man bowed down before the Emperor and said, “Now | can tell
others that there is at least one person in the Emperor's court who
cannot be fooled. | am happy to accept my defeat.”
OO

37
 12
BRIEF ANSWERS
One day, Birbal was taking a morning walk in a park. A man approached
him and asked, “Could you please tell me where | can meet Birbal?”
“In a park,” said Birbal.
The man paused for a while and then asked Birbal, “Where does he
live?”
“In a house,” said Birbal loudly.
The man paused again. Then he again asked Birbal, “Why do you
not tell me his full address?”
“Because you didn’t ask for his full address?” said Birbal loudly.
“Can't you understand what | want to know?” asked the man.
“No,” Birbal said.
The man kept quiet for a few seconds. Birbal kept on walking. ‘|
must then ask him if he knows Birbal.’ The man thought to himself and
approached Birbal again. “Well, just tell me if you know Birbal,’? said
he.
“Yes, | do,’ said Birbal.
“What is your name?” asked the man.
“Birbal,” answered Birbal.
The man was surprised! He was asking the address of Birbal from
Birbal himself and Birbal didn’t disclose that he himself was Birbal.
Strange!
“What a funny man!” the man looked annoyed. “Il am asking about
you and you are telling me something else. Why did you do that?”
“| simply answered your questions,” said Birbal.
The man began to laugh.
The man told him that he wanted to meet him to get his help in order
to solve a family problem. Birbal agreed to help him.
38 O0
 13
THE MOST VALUABLE THING
Once, the Empress’ brother misbehaved with a woman. When the
Emperor came to know about it, he ordered his brother-in-law to leave
the capital and never come back again. However, the queen’s brother,
who was also a courtier, did not wish to leave the palace. Where else
would he get all the comforts of a royal life? He was appointed the
courtier, on the recommendation of the queen. Now that he was found
guilty, the Emperor was angry with him.

He went to his sister—the queen—and requested her to go to the

Emperor and request him to withdraw his orders. The quéen was
worried and unhappy because her brother had misbehaved with a
woman. Akbar had high regards for women. He would never tolerate
39
anyone insulting a woman. But the queen decided to go to the Emperor
for the sake of her brother. The queen instead of requesting the
Emperor for mercy, argued with him, saying that his brother belonged
to a royal family and so he had every right to misbehave with other _
people and it should be overlooked. The queen demanded that her
brother should be reinstated as a courtier in the palace.
But the Emperor was in no mood to yield to such arguments. He
said, “No one is above law. On the contrary a royal person is required
to be more disciplined than the others. Now you too have displeased
me with your unjust demand and rude behaviour. You will also have to
leave this palace within two days. As you happen to be my queen, | will
have no objection to your taking along with you any precious thing of
your liking from this palace.”
The queen came out of Emperor’s room with tears in her eyes.
“What happened, sister?” asked her brother.
“| went to the Emperor for your sake and told him that a royal person
had a right to become mischievous and haughty,’ said the queen.
“Hearing this the Emperor became angry with me too and ordered me
to leave the palace within twenty four hours. Now | don’t know what to
do.” The queen began to weep.
“Only Birbal can help you, Your Majesty!” suggested a maid-
servant.
“No,” shouted the queen’s brother. “I do not like Birbal. | don’t know
why the Emperor is so fond of him.”
“But | think she is correct to suggest Birbal’s name. Right now he is
the only one in this world who can help us in this bad time. It is advisable
to seek his help”, thought the queen’s brother.
So Birbal was called to the queen’s room.
The queen narrated the whole story to Birbal and requested him to
find some way out, so that the Emperor took back his orders.
“Did he tell you to take with you the most precious thing of your
liking?” asked Birbal.
“Yes, he did,” replied the queen. “But sie is more precious and
40
 dear to a married woman than her own husband?”
“Exactly!” exclaimed Birbal. “You should take with you your
husband!”
Then Birbal narrated his plan to the queen and asked her iw go
ahead and act accordingly.
According to the plan, a bit of sleep-inducing drug was to be mixed
with a drink and offered to the Emperor. The queen, accordingly mixed
the drug in a glass of sherbet and offered it to the Emperor, saying, “|
am leaving. Please drink this glass of sherbet prepared by me specially
for you.”
The Emperor drank the sherbet and after sometime, went to sleep.
The queen, then with the help of her servants, carried the Emperor out
and kept him into a palanquin and commanded her men to carry him.
The queen sat in her own palanquin, and then all her men and the
palanquins came out of the royal palace and proceeded towards the
queen’s father’s house at a distance.
The queen’s father was surprised on the sudden arrival of his
daughter. Then his eyes fell on the Emperor sleeping in the palanquin.
He was dumbfounded to see all that and could hardly utter a word.
The queen told her father all that had happened in the palace. She
also told him that it was Birbal who advised her to carry the Emperor
after sending him to sleep under the effect of the drug.
“But what will happen when the Emperor wakes up’, said the
queen’s father. “He will definitely punish you.”
“Now that | have brought him here, | am prepared for anything that
may happen to me.” said the queen. “Carry the Emperor inside.”
The Emperor was carried inside.
The Emperor woke up, and to his surprise found himself in his
father-in-law’s house and the queen was sitting beside him. The
Emperor became furious and shouted, “Who has brought me here?
Who wants to be beheaded?”
“If you so wish, | am ready to die; but | would request you to listen
to me please, before you give such orders,’ the queen said. “Yes, it is
a1
true that | have brought you here. You gave me permission to take with
me anything that | thought was precious and dearest to me. To a
married woman, her husband is most precious to her. To me, you are
most precious and at the same time you are the dearest one to me. No
amount of gold or diamond can make me as happy as your love and
companionship can. | have only followed your orders. When | left the
palace, | carried with me something that was most precious to me.”
The Emperor was quick to guess and understand that the queen
had been tutored by someone to act in this manner; and it could be
none other than Birbal to have suggested to the queen to cling to such
ruse as this. He asked, “Was it Birbal who advised you to send me to
sleep and bring me here?”
The queen said, “Yes.”
“You and your brother have always been jealous of Birbal, and yet
itis he who has helped you in the hour of crisis,” said the Emperor. “All
right, | forgive you.”
After a day’s stay there, the Emperor and the queen returned to the
capital.
The queen's brother too was given a royal pardon with a warning
that he should behave properly with others.
Both the brother and the sister thanked Birbal, for his timely help in
saving the queen’s honour.
OO

42
 14
A FOREST WITHOUT ANIMALS
Emperor Akbar was very fond of hunting. Whenever there was high
pressure of work in the court, he would retire and go out of the capital
to spend some time in a forest, chasing animals and hunting them.
Hundreds of men, beating drums would surround a part of the forest
and drive the animals towards the Emperor. Akbar would hunt them,
sitting safely on the back of his elephant. He would shoot at the animals
with his spear or bow and arrows. Akbar would kill many animals in one
single day. When the others would shower their praise on the Emperor
for his marksmanship, Birbal would remain quiet. He did not like the
Emperor killing the animals thoughtlessly. He felt sorry for the animals
who did no harm to human beings, and the human beings always took
pleasure in killing such helpless animals. Birbal did not like to
accompany Akbar for hunting. But Akbar always insisted that Birbal
should also go with him for hunting.
One day, Akbar was riding his elephant in a forest. Birbal was riding
another elephant. Akbar was hunting as usual and had ordered Birbal
to come along. This time, Birbal had an idea.
Suddenly, Akbar noticed that Birbal had dismounted from his
elephant.
“Where is Birbal?” Akbar asked his bodyguard.
The bodyguard pointed his finger towards a tree. “He is standing
there under a tree, Your Majesty,’ The bodyguard said.
“What is he looking at in the tree?” asked Akbar. “It seems he is
looking at birds. Birbal! come here”, called Akbar.
When Birbal arrived, the Emperor asked him, “What were you
looking at in the tree? The birds?”
“Your Majesty,” replied Birbal, “I was listening to the birds!”
43
 Akbar began to laugh. He asked, “Well, what did the birds say to
you?”
“They were not talking to me,” said Birbal. “They were talking
among themselves.”
_ “You mean to say that they were talking something very
interesting?”
“Exactly, Your Majesty!” said Birbal.
“Well! can you tell me what they were talking about?” asked Akbar.
Zs

MP | A |
ah SU \

“One of the two birds has a son and the other has a daughter,” said
Birbal. “The father of the male bird was demanding a forest from the
father of the female bird as dowry!”
“A forest?” Akbar asked with a surprise. “Birds too demand dowry
and that too a forest! Never heard of?”
Akbar and all the others began to laugh.
“So, did the other bird agree to give a forest,” asked Akbar.
“Yes, but the male bird’s father refused!” replied Birbal.
44
 “Why did the male bird’s father refuse to accept a forest that the
female bird’s father agreed to give as dowry?”
“Because the male bird’s father was demanding a forest, devoid of
all kinds of animals.”
“How could there be a forest without animals?” asked Akbar. “Its an
unusual demand. At least, |am not aware of any forest which is without
animals.”
“But very interestingly, the female bird’s father agreed to this also,”
said Birbal.
“But where will he find such a forest?” asked Akbar.
“This forest, Your Majesty, and none other,” said Birbal.
“You mean, this forest?” asked Akbar. “But it is full of animals of all
kinds.”
“Yes, Your Majesty!” said Birbal. “This forest is full of animals.” But
the female bird’s father said that very soon this forest would be bare of
all animals! He said, “This will happen as a result of Emperor’s
merciless killing of animals. Soon, a day will come when there would
not be a single animal left in this forest!”
Others who had gathered around Akbar’s elephant, began to laugh.
However, the Emperor became serious.
“Now | understand what you want to say Birbal,” said Akbar. “You
could not tell me to stop killing animals, and so, you adopted this
method to convey your feelings.”
Birbal became silent. Akbar’s courtiers and others too became
silent. They thought that the Emperor would definitely become very
unhappy with Birbal for suggesting to him to stop hunting.
But contrary to everybody’s expectations the Emperor smiled and
said, “Let us go back home! | am no more interested in hunting.” Now
| feel | was killing the helpless animals unnecessarily. Let these poor
animals now live happily in the forest.’ |
The Emperor was happy to know that his courtier, Birbal, had love
and compassion for the animals too.
LO)
45
 15
THE PORTRAIT OF A COURTIER
Once the Emperor decidedto hold an exhibition of the portraits of his
courtiers. The Emperor also decided to keep the portraits in the
exhibition hall as a permanent display for the visitors to come and see
them.
The courtiers liked the idea. Everyone wanted to become more and
more popular. Some of the courtiers were thrilled to think that it was the
Emperor’s way of rewarding them for their meritorious services.
“Now people will always remember us,” said a courtier.
“We will be famous now,’ said another courtier.
All the other courtiers nodded. They were all very happy.
The idea was quite encouraging. The courtiers then engaged some
artists to draw their portraits.
But there was one courtier, who loved to deceive people by
depriving them of their rightful dues. That miser also engaged an artist
to draw his portrait. He promised the artist a few gold coins, but he had
an evil design.
The artist worked hard for many days and nights to do an exellent
job and draw a very good portrait of that courtier. He was a fine artist.
He expected a good remuneration for his work; at least a little more
than the promised twenty gold coins. But the courtier due to his
miserliness was not even willing to pay the artist his rightful dues. As
the courtier had planned to cheat the artist, he wanted to find a fault
with his portrait. He deliberately misbehaved with the artist, in order to
to pick up a quarrel with him. But good sense prevailed on the artist and
nothing bad happened.
But the courtier started criticising the artist for drawing a very bad
portrait. The artist now felt hurt. He was an accomplished artist. People
46
liked his paintings but this courtier was criticising his work badly. The
artist was almost in tears. He had put his soul in his work.
“You have spoilt my portrait, and that is the reason why | cannot pay
you even a single gold coin”, said the courtier and shut the door in his
face.
The artist felt lost. The courtier was a resourceful person. What a
poor artist like him could do against him? He sat on the banks of the
Yamuna river and began to weep.
It so happend that Birbal came to know about this artist. He called
for him. When the artist came Birbal asked him the reason for his grief.
The artist told Birbal how he was deprived of his rightful dues by the
courtier whose portrait he had drawn with so much care and pain.
Birbal asked the artist to draw another portrait of the courtier with
the head of a horse! Birbal also told the artist, what he should tell the
courtier whose portrait he had drawn.
As advised by Birbal, the artist began to draw another picture of the
courtier. He drew a portrait of the courtier in which he looked like a
horse!
Then he showed the portrait to the courtier.
“| will hang this portrait in the exhibition hall,’ said the artist. “You
look very impressive in this portrait!”
The courtier looked minutely into the portrait and was shocked to
see that he almost looked like a horse in that portrait. The courtier felt
very uneasy about it. He realised it very well that the artist had the skill
to draw his portrait in any manner he liked to. He also knew that the
artist had done that to lower his prestige.
“Well, | must now admit that my first picture was much better than
this one,” the courtier said. He smiled and handed over to the artist, the
full amount that he had promised him. The artist became very happy.
“Don’t display this portrait in the exhibition hall,” said the courtier.
“Don’t worry | wil! destory it,” said the artist.
The artist met Birbal again and expressed his gratiude for his help
and advice in the rnatter.
al el
47
 16
BIRBAL’S KHICHDI
One day, Birbal and Akbar were strolling in front of the palace. It was the
afternoon time of a chilly winter season. Suddenly a Brahmin, in
tattered clothes, came near them with folded hands.
“What do you want?” asked Akbar.
“Your Majesty! Please help me,” the Brahmin requested with folded.
hands. “| am a very poor man. | get no good work to earn more. | spend
the little money | earn, entirely on food. Now | am in need of one
thousand gold coins for my daughter’s marriage. We intend to give
some ornaments to our only child—our daughter. Besides the
ornaments, we will have to buy clothes and utensils. We must invite
some people to take meals in our house, and so we will have to buy oil,
flour, vegetables and spices.”
“Look, when you have no money at all, why do you want to give
ornaments to your daughter? When you cannot afford to buy good food
for your own family, why do you dream of giving a party to other
people?” asked the Emperor.
“It is my life-long ambition, Your Majesty!” said the Brahmin. “I am a
poor father, but | too have a dream of spending some money for the
marriage of my only child. | shall be extremely grateful to you, if you only
give me an opportunity to earn the money, | now need so much for my
daughter’s marriage.”
“Well, | give you an opportunity to earn one thousand gold coins”
said the Emperor. “You go and stand in the cold water of the lake in this
garden. You will come out of the water only after the sunrise, tomorrow.”
Birbal grew anxious. He felt bad that the Emperor had become
rather harsh with the poor Brahmin. He would not be able to stand in
cold water for the whole night, and would definitely die.
48 AKBAR BIRBAL STORIES—3
 But now the Brahmin looked happy. Accompanied by the guards, he
went towards the lake and entered its cold water.
“The Brahmin will die of severe cold, sir!” said a guard to Birbal.
‘I don’t know,” said Birbal. “Perhaps he is very strong in his mind.
But the chances of his success are very slim.”
But, next day, much to the happiness of them all, the Brahmin was
alive and smiling. The sun had already risen. The Brahmin came out of
the cold water of the lake—successful and victorious!

“How have you made an impossible task possible?” the Emperor

asked. “It was a tough job. You have done a great feat! | just cannot
believe it. Could you tell me your secret?”
“There is nothing secret about it, Your Majesty,’ said the Brahmin.
“| was determined to achieve success.”
“| asked you how you spent the night in cold water?” said Akbar.
“| kept looking at the lights of the palace.”
“| see!” Akbar said. “So, you got all the warmth you needed from the
lights of my palace and did not feel the chill of cold water and passed
‘ 49
the night very comfortably. Well, in that case, | cannot give you any
reward! You may go home!”
The Brahmin was shocked to hear this. How some lights at a
distance of 100 yards send any warmth to a man standing in the cold
water of the lake in a wintry night? Akbar just wanted an excuse. It was
very unkind of him to have deprived the Brahmin of a promised sum.
Akbar turned his back and moved towards his palace.
The guards looked at one another’s face helplessly. Birbal went
back home, thinking deeply about the Brahmin.
Next day, Birbal went to the Emperor and said, “I have now learnt to
cook khichdi. Please come to my residence tomorrow and have the
taste of my special khichdi.’
Akbar was pleased that Birbal had invited him to a lunch-party. Next
day, Akbar reached Birbal’s home. He was accompanied by his
courtiers. Birbal welcomed them offering flowers while his servants
sprinkled scented water on them. They were led to a big hall furnished
with soft pillows and mattresses. Servants stood with giant hand fans.
Akbar was smiling all the time. He was pleased that Birbal looked
to their comforts.
Two hours had passed and no one from Birbal’s house had offered
them even a glass of plain water. Akbar was hungry and thirsty too.
“Where is Birbal?” the Emperor asked.
“Outside, in the garden,” replied the servant.
“When | asked you an hour ago, you gave me the same reply,” said
Akbar. “What is he doing there in the garden?”
“Excuse us, Your Majesty!” said the servant, “He is busy cooking
khichdi.”
Akbar became very angry. He stood up, shouting at the servants.
“Excuse us, Your Majesty!” said a servant, “We have told you just °
the truth. It is true that he is busy in the garden cooking khichdi!”
“Take us to him,” ordered Akbar.
The servants led the Emperor and the courtiers into Birbal’s
garden. There Birbal was putting twigs and wood into the fire under a
tall palm tree.
50
 “Where is your khichdi?” asked Akbar.
Birbal stood up and quietly pointed his finger towards the top of the
tree. A large pot was hanging from the top of the tall palm tree.
Akbar and all the courtiers craned their necks to see the pot.
“What is this?” Akbar was wild with rage! “We are hungry and you
are showing us a big pot tied onto this tall tree?”
“lam sorry, Your Majesty!” said Birbal. “I think you will have to wait
for some more time. | have put rice, pulses, and onions and garlic, all
into the pot. Please see for yourself that | am putting a lot of firewood
and twigs into the fire. But | do not know why it is taking so much time!”
“There is a gap of about ten yards between the pot and the fire,”
said Akbar. “How can the heat reach the pot hanging so high, up on the
tree?”
“| think the heat from the fire on the ground is reaching the pot,” said
Birbal. |
“You are talking absurd,’ shouted Akbar angrily.
“Excuse me, Your Majesty!” said Birbal. “If a poor Brahmin standing
in the cold water can get warmth from the lights in the palace, burning
at a distance of not less than 100 yards, this pot, too, can get the heat
from the fire burning at a distance of ten yards only!”
“Now | get your point, Birbal,” said the Emperor. “| should not have
become cruel to that poor Brahmin. | am indeed very sorry. | promise to
pay the Brahmin two thousand gold coins. Send him to me. | must thank
you, for you have brought me to my senses.”
Birbal was happy that the Brahmin would get his reward that had
been doubled up to two thousand gold coins by the Emperor himself.
“Please come with me inside the house’, said Birbal. “Il have made
arrangements for your meals. There are many tasty dishes and khichdi
too.”
They all laughed and followed Birbal into his house for the lunch.
OQ

51
 17
THE GOLD COIN
In the city of Delhi, there lived two merchants. They had a business of
‘ghee’. Their shops were ouite close to each other.
Once, one of the merchants borrowed one thousand gold coins
from the other merchant. But afterwards, he refused to pay back the
borrowed money. The second merchant went to Emperor Akbar’s court
and lodged a complaint. The Emperor handed over this case to Birbal.
Birbal asked each of the merchants to give his statement. The plaintiff
said, “This merchant had borrowed one thousand gold coins from me.
Now, he refuses to pay the money back.”
The accused merchant said, “No, sir. This is a lie. He is jealous of
me and, therefore, he wants to implicate me in a false case.”
Birbal asked both the merchants to come to the court after ten days
for a judgement in the case.
Then, Birbal ordered for ten containers each filled with twenty seers |
of ghee. In only two of all the containers, he placed a gold coin each.
Afterwards, he called all the ghee merchants of the city. The two
~ merchants also came. He gave each of them a container of ghee and
said, “Each of these containers contains twenty seers of ghee. Take it
home and after a careful examination of the quality of ghee, decide its
price.”
He purposefully gave the two containers with the gold coins to the
plaintiff and the accused. The merchants took the tins to their homes.
They then put the ghee to different tests and decided its market price.
They found a gold coin in their respective tins. The merchant who had
appealed to the court was honest. He returned the gold coin. But the
other merchant took out the gold coin from the container and gave it to
his son. |
52
 On the appointed day, all the merchants came to the Emperor’s
court with their containers of ghee. Birbal carefully examined the
accused merchant's container. He found that the quantity of ghee had
uecreased. When he enquired about it, the accused merchant said,
“Maharaj, the quantity of the ghee has been reduced due to heating.”
“Is it so? Then, in that case, | shall check the other ghee containers.
also,” Birbal replied.
Birbal went inside and said to his servant, “Go to the house of the
accused and tell his son to come to the court with the gold coin, his
father had got in the container of ghee.”
Soon, the accused merchant’s son came to the court with the gold
coin. Birbal asked him, “Where are the other five gold coins that were
in the ghee container?”
“We found only one gold coin in the container and not five,” the son
replied.
Hearing the son’s statement, Birbal turned towards the accused
merchant and said, “If you could cheat me for a single gold coin, it’s
quite likely that you might have cheated the plaintiff also. What have you
to say in this connection?”
The merchant had no other way but to accept his guilt. He knelt
down before Birbal; begged for his forgiveness afd returned all the one
thousand gold coins to the plaintiff, and one gold coin to Birbal that he
had stolen from the container.
OO

53
 18
THE EMPEROR’S DREAM
One night, Emperor Akbar dreamt that all his teeth except one had
fallen.
The next morning, he called all the astrologers of the kingdom to his
court. He told them about his strange dream and asked them about its
meaning.
The astrologers discussed the Emperor's dream amongst
themselves and finally said, “Your Majesty, your dream means that all
your relatives will die before you!” |
The Emperor became very furious with the astrologers. He asked
them to leave the court and asked Birbal to interpret his dream.
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Birbal thought for a while and then said, “Your Majesty, your dream
certainly carries a very auspicious meaning. It means that you will live
much longer than all your relatives.”
The Emperor was highly pleased with Birbal’s clever interpretation
of his dream. He rewarded him handsomely.

54 as
 19
THE POET & THE RICH MAN
One day, a poet went to meet a wealthy man. There, he read several
poems to him and hoped that, the wealthy man would give him a
handsome reward. But the wealthy man was a great miser. He said, “My
dear poet, | am very pleased with your poems. Please come tomorrow,
| shall really make you happy.”

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The poet in the hope of receiving a nice reward the next day, went
home happily. The next day, he went to the wealthy man’s place. There
the wealthy man said, “Honourable poet, just as you have pleased me,
by reciting your poems, | too have pleased you by having invited you
today. As you have given me nothing, similarly, you too have received
nothing. Now, does it not make us even?”
55 |
 The poet was very disheartened. He narrated the entire story to
one of his close friends. His friend in turn told it to Birbal. On hearing the
story, Birbal said, “Do as | say; you befriend that wealthy man and invite
him at your home for lunch. At the same time, also invite your poet
friend. | myself, of course, will be there.”
After some days, the programme of lunch was arranged at the
house of the poet’s friend as per Birbal’s plan. As had already been
decided earlier, the rich man arrived for lunch at the fixed hour. At that
time, Birbal, the poet, and some other friends were chatting with each
other. |
Time passed by gradually but the lunch was not served. The
guests, were busy talking to each other. Finally, the rich man lost his
patience and said, “It’s already past lunch time! Have not we come here
for lunch?”
“Lunch? What lunch?” Birbal asked.
The rich man said angrily, “What do you mean by ‘What lunch’?
Hadn’t we gathered here for lunch?”
Birbal replied, “There wasn’t any invitation for lunch. This was only
to please you, that you had been told to come for lunch.”
The rich man was annoyed. He asked angrily, “What is this? Is it
right to cheat a respectable person in such a manner? You have lied to
me!”
Birbal started laughing and said, “When did | say that such a
behaviour is right? But you had cheated this poet saying, “Come
tomorrow”, so | too said so to please you. We thought that perhaps this
was the right behaviour amongst cultured men!”
The rich man realised his mistake and he gave away a handsome
reward to the poet.
oat ae

56
 20
THE MARRIAGE OF AKBAR
Emperor Akbar and his Empress often quarrelled with each other over
small matters. One day, while quarrelling, the Empress asked,. “You
must prove that you truly love me. So, do as | wish. You dismiss Birbal
from his post and appoint my brother Sherkhan in his place.”
The Emperor tried to make the Empress understand that it was not
possible to remove Birbal from his post, but the Empress was adament.
So Akbar said, “You yeursell talk to Birbal.”
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The Begum was pleased and said, “| have an idea. Tomorrow, we

both will pick up a quarrel between us. Then you tell Birbal, “If the
Empress does not ask for my forgiveness, shall remove you from your
post.” Thus the blame wouldn't go on you.”
The next day, according to the plan, the Emperor and the Empress
started quarrelling with each other. The Emperor fuming with rage went
to stay in a diferent palace.
57
 When Birbal went to see the Emperor, the Emperor said, “Birbal,
the Empress must beg for my forgiveness, otherwise | shall remove you
from your present post.”
Birbal, after listening to the Emperor came out of the Emperor's
court and called a guard. He whispered something in his ear. Then he
started talking with the Empress. He gave her the idea as if he knew
nothing about her quarrel with the Emperor.
After some time, according to Birbal’s instructions, the guard came
in and said to him, “Maharaj is saying that everything has happened as
per the plan. He has become very jee a now and wants you to
immediately bring along that person.”
Birbal at once stood up to leave the place. The Empress asked,
“What is the matter Birbal?”
Birbal replied, “I beg your apologies, Your Highness, but | am not
permitted to reveal the identity of the person!” And he went away.
Now, the Empress felt very much disturbed. Unpleasant thoughts
started coming to her mind. She suspected that something fishy had
taken place. She thought to herself, “That person must certainly be
some other woman, the Emperor is going to marry. My God! | will
certainly destroy my family life with my desire to make my brother the
Wazir.”
She went to the Emperor and kneeling down at his feet started
weeping. The Emperor asked, “What is the matter? Why’re you crying?”
The Empress replied with tears in her eyes, “Please forgive me. It was
all wrong on my part. But please don’t re-marry!”
_. The Emperor was surprised to hear this. He asked, “Who told you
that I’m getting remarried.”
The Empress narrated to him whatever Birbal had said. The
Emperor laughed heartily on hearing the Empress and said, “Birbal has
certainly befooled you! It is not easy to outwit Birbal. Have you
understood this at least now?”
The Empress said, “Yes,” and smiled.
OO
58
 21
BIRBAL AND THE CHILD
One day, Birbal came to the court very late. When the Emperor wanted
to know the reason, he said, “What can | do, Your Majesty? My children
started crying today and they were insisting that | should not go to the
court. It was with great difficulty that | managed to explain to them that
it was important for me to go and attend the court. | had to waste a lot
of time in the process, and hence | am late.”
The Emperor wasn't satisfied with Birbal’s excuse and said, “Birbal,
| don’t agree with you. It is not at all difficult to pacify a child and so,
there is no reason why it should take such a long time!”
Birbal laughed and said, “Maharaj, it is easy to scold children. But
to explain to them something is very difficult.”
The Emperor said, “Don’t talk foolish. Bring any child before me and
| will show how easy it is!”
Then Birbal said, “O.K. Maharaj, | shall act and behave like.a child,
and you, considering yourself to be my father, try to pacify me. And let
us see.”
Then Birbal started behaving like a small child. He made funny
gestures at the Emperor and ran about in the court playing like a small
child. He threw away his ‘Pugree’. Finally, he sat on the Emperor's lap
and started pulling his moustaches.
The Emperor said, “No, my child! don’t do this. Be a good boy.’
But Birbal started crying loudly.
Then, the Emperor ordered some sweets. But, Birbal still kept on
crying.
The Emperor got irritated, but trying to maintain his cool, he said,
“Do you want to play with toys. Here, take these toys.”
But Birbal said crying, “| want a sugarcane!”
59
 The Emperor smiled and ordered for a sugarcane.
Soon the guards brought a stack of sugarcanes. But, Birbal didn't
stop crying. “| want a big sugarcane chopped up into small pieces!”
Then the Emperor asked the guards to chop up the sugarcane into
small pieces.
Crying even more loudly, Birbal said, “No, not the guards; you
yourself chop it up into pieces.”
The Emperor was highly upset by this time. But he had no
alternative but to chop up the sugarcane.
Then he placed the sugarcane pieces in front of Birbal and said,
“Now eat these quickly my boy!”
But Birbal continued with his childish demands and said, “Il wanted
the whole sugarcane!”
The Emperor pulled out one whole cane from the stack and giving
it to Birbal, said, “Here take this and stop crying!”
But Birbal cried, “No, not that, | want a whole sugarcane out of
these small pieces!”
“Oh you silly child! It is not possible!” The Emperor was highly
annoyed.
But Birbal kept on crying. At last the Emperor lost his cool and said,
“Now If you don’t stop crying, | will slap you really hard!”
Now Birbal got up and said laughing, “Oh, no! do not beat me, Your
Majesty. Do you now realize, how difficult it is to satisfy the whims of a
child?”
The Emperor agreed with the views of Birbal and said, “Yes, it is
certainly not a child’s play to pacify a crying child!”
OO.

60
 22
THE PRESENT, PAST AND FUTURE
One day, Emperor Akbar announced, “Whosoever answers the
following questions will be given a big reward.”
The questions were—1. What is it which is present today and shall
remain so even afterwards? 2. What is it which is absent today and shall
remain so even afterwards? 3. What is it which is present today but
afterwards it shall be absent? The answers had to be given with suitable
examples.
No one had any answer to these tricky questions except, Birbal who
said to the Emperor, “Your Majesty, to find out the correct answers to
your questions, it is necessary that you and | both visit the town.”
Then, the Emperor and Birbal disguised themselves as sages and
walked to the town’s market place. In the market both of them entered
a shop. Birbal said to the shopkeeper, “We want one thousand rupees
to construct a madarsa for the children.”
When the shopkeeper told his munim to give the money to the
sages Birbal further said, “While taking your money | shall hit your head
with my shoes, for every small rupee that | accept from you.”
The servants of the shopkeeper became angry on hearing these
words and came forward to rough up Birbal. But the shopkeeper asked
them to keep quiet and said, “l am prepared to take the thrashing,
provided | am assured that the money given by me is used for a noble
Cause.”
Saying so, the shopkeeper lowered his head and asked Birbal to hit
with his shoes. Birbal and the Emperor, both left the shop without
saying anything. They walked along and in the way, Birbal broke the
silence and said, “See my Lord! This means that the shopkeeper has
money today, and his good intention will bring him reward tomorrow,
61
that is, in future. That means he has secured his place in the heaven
after his death, and it also means that whatever he has today, will be
there with him tomorrow also.”
Then, they came across a beggar. They saw a person giving him
food, which was more than enough for him. Birbal asked the beggar,
“Give us some food, We are hungry.” But the beggar shouted at them,
“Get out! you fools!”
Then Birbal said, “In answer to your second question, this beggar
will not be able to please God. So this means that what he does not
possess today shall not be with him tomorrow also.”
Some time later, they saw a hermit busy meditating under a tree.
Birbal placed some money before him but the hermit said, “Please take
it away; it is like ill gotten money for me. | don’t want it.”
Now Birbal said, “Maharaj, this means that now it is absent but
afterwards, it will be present. Today he is neglecting all these pleasures
but tomorrow, he is bound to attain them.”
“And Maharaj, the fourth example is your own case. Because of
your good deeds in your previous life, you are leading a good life today
and enjoying the pleasures of life. You possess money and valuables.
If you continue with your good rule and justice you will have it later also.
But if your conduct ever goes wrong, you won't have it secured for the
future.”
The Emperor was very much pleased with Birbal’s clever and
honest answers.
OO

62
 23
THE ROYAL PLEASURE
A servant who used to make the Emperor’s bed in the royal bedroom,
was one day tempted to lie on it for some time.
The servant then secretly lay on it. But then he quickly got up for the
fear that someone might see him.
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But, a guard had already seen him getting out of the bed.
Unfortunately, the guard and the servant were not on good terms with
each other. So the guard at once went to Emperor Akbar and told him
what the servant had done. The Emperor became furious to hear this
and ordered, “Give that servant a punishment of twenty lashes
tomorrow morning.”
The servant was scared to know of such a punishment going to be
inflicted on him. He immediately went to Birbal’s place. There, he told
63
Birbal what had happened. Birbal listened to him and said, “Do as | say
and don’t worry at all.” The servant was happy to hear this and returned
to the palace.
At midnight, the whole palace woke up due to sudden commotion.
Somebody was shouting and crying. Soon everyone came and stood
around him. They were surprised to see that the person who was crying
was none other than the servant whom the Emperor had given the
punishment. He lifted his eyes to heaven, sighed deeply and said, “Oh!
God, please have mercy on His Majesty.” The servant continued to
gesticulate sadly towards the heavens. The other guards thought that
perhaps he had been possessed by some evil spirit and they started
sprinkling holy water upon him.
The Emperor and Empress too woke up by this commotion. They
too came down to the servant’s quarter. Yet the servant didn’t stop
crying. “Please forgive My Lord! Have mercy on the Emperor.”
Seeing the Emperor tears began rolling down from his eyes. He
said weeping, “Maharaj, what a great punishment for you! As compared
to your’s mine is nothing!”
The Emperor became surprised and asked, “What punishment!
Don’t talk nonsense!”
The servant said, “Maharaj, | dreamt that the ‘Yamdoot’, the
messenger of death had tied you with a pillar and was lashing you. |
saw this and jumping between ‘Yamdoot’ and you | said, “My lord,
please don't lash my Emperor; instead, | am ready to take the lashes.”
But the ‘Yamdoot’ said, “No! this man must be inflicted with
punishment. You slept on that bed only for a few seconds and were
sentenced to twenty lashes, whereas this Emperor has been sleeping
on this bed for many years. He must be lashed thousand times more.”
Saying this the servant began crying endlessly.
The Emperor kept quiet and withdrew his punishment orders. He
was sure of Birbal’s involvement in the enactment of this drama.
)

64 AKBAR BIRBAL STORIES—4

 24
BIRBAL AND THE ELEPHANT
One day, a great discussion on a person’s deeds and fate was going on
in the royal court. Everyone was of the opinion that fate was superior,
but Birbal was of the opinion that a man could change his fate with his
courage.
The Emperor decided to test Birbal. He called for an elephant driver
and said, “Look, everyday Birbal goes to take his bath in the river and
the path which he takes is so narrow that it is impossible to go both
ways. When Birbal goes on it, send one of your elephants from the
other end of the road.
The next day, the elephant driver took an elephant to the other end
of the road. When Birbal reached the middle of the road, the elephant
driver pricked the elephant with his goad.
The elephant became aggressive and started running on the
narrow road. Birbal was terribly frightened to see the elephant running
towards him. But still, he, without losing his courage started looking
around.
There, Birbal saw a dog. The dog looked weak. He quickly picked
up the dog and threw it at the elephant.
The dog fell on the elephant’s neck. His sharp claws pierced the
elephant’s neck. The elephant was so confused that he began
retreating.
Taking advantage of the elephant’s confusion, Birbal turned back
and ran to the court.
When the Emperor saw Birbal, he said, “Birbal, you are right. One
can change one’s fate with courage. | am fully convinced, now.’
Birbal replied, “Maharaj, you tested me, but what if the elephant
would have trampled me under his feet?”
One must think before he acts.
OQ
65
 25
A BAD HABIT
Birsat had a bad habit of chewing tobacco. Very often, he could be
seen chewing a pinch of it.
The Emperor was very much against this habit of Birbal. One day,
while Birbal and Akbar were taking a walk, they came across some
tobacco plants. A donkey was standing near the plants. It sniffed at the
plants and moved ahead.
Seeing the donkey, Emperor Akbar said to Birbal, “Look Birbal! How
-bad is it to chew tobacco! Even that donkey doesn't like it.”
Birbal quietly took out his tobacco pouch and put a pinch of tobacco
in his mouth. Then looking straight at the Emperor he said, “You are
right, Maharaj! A donkey does not chew tobacco at all!”
The next morning, Emperor Akbar and Birbal again went out for a
walk. It was winter and the weather was very cold.
The Emperor said to Birbal, “It is very cold today, isn’t it?”
“Yes, Maharaj! it is two fistfulls of cold!”
“What does this mean?” the Emperor asked with surprise.
“Maharaj, look in front of you!”
The Emperor looked and found a man going with both his fists held
tightly near his armpit.
It was then that the Emperor understood what Birbal really meant
to Say.
el
 26
FOOT ON THE SOIL
One day, Emperor Akbar came to the court and started attending to
the routine work. Just then, a messenger arrived with the queen’s
message that she wanted to see the Emperor in her palace.
When the Emperor stood up to leave for Queen’s palace, all the
courtiers wished him. Birbal too wished, but while doing so, he gave a
furtive smile which was noticed by the Emperor and he took it as an
insult to him.
He, at once, ordered Birbal to get out of his kingdom with immediate
effect and not tread the soil of his kingdom, or else, he would be hanged
to death.
Birbal obeyed the Emperor’s commands and left the kingdom.
Several months passed after Birbal had left the court. By Now, the
Emperor's anger had subsided.
So he decided to bring back Birbal to the court and sent his
messengers everywhere in the kingdom to search for him.
One day, when the Emperor was standing in the balcony, he saw a
horse carriage coming towards the palace. He noticed that it was Birbal
sitting in the carriage.
The carriage was stopped. The Emperor asked Birbal angrily,
“Birbal, why have you come back to the kingdom?
“Maharaj,” Birbal replied politely, “l left for China on the day you
drove me out of your court. | covered the floor of my carriage with the
soil of China and now | live on it.
lt is for this reason and also in obedience of your orders that |
haven’t set my foot on your soil and remained in the carriage ever since.
The Emperor was pleased with Birbal’s answer. He smiled and
asked him to attend the court from the next morning.
a IES|
67
 27
KHOJA’S THREE QUESTIONS
One day, the Emperor was talking to a courtier who was a ‘Khoja’.
The Emperor praised Birbal very much. This annoyed Khoja very
much. He always thought himself to be the wisest person. He secretly
desired to be the Chief Minister himself, but it was not possible due to
Birbals hold on the affairs of the state. But, whenever Khoja found an
opportunity, he would speak ill of Birbal.
So this was the reason why he became very angry to hear the
Emperor praising Birbal. In a bid to put Birbal on a low profile, he said,
“Maharaj! You give too much importance to Birbal, and that too for
nothing!”
The Emperor defended his remarks and said, “But Birbal is cleverer
than any other courtier. No one can give as logical and proper answers
to questions as Birbal does!”
Then Khoja said, “Maharaj! Your assessment of Birbal as the
wittiest of all will be acceptable to me only if he gives appropriate
answers to threeof my questions. And only then your praise for him will
be justifiable.”
The Emperor smiled and said, “Well, what are your questions?”
Khoja put the following questions—
1. How many stars are there in the sky? 2. Where is the centre of
the earth? 3. What is the exact number of men and women separately
on this earth?
The Emperor was very pleased with Khoja’s questions.
At once, he sent for Birbal. Soon, Birbal came to the court.
The Emperor repeated to him the three questions of Khoja and
said, “Look Birbal, if you fail to give the right answers to these
questions, you will be suspended from your post!”
68
 “All right, Your Majesty! It will take me six hours to answer these
questions. Please wait till then.” He then left the court. He asked his
servant to bring a sheep with abundant hair on its body.
Birbal went to the Emperor with that hairy sheep and said,
“Maharaj, the answer to Khoja’s first question is that there are as many
stars in the heaven as there are hair on this sheep’s body. If you have
any doubts, you can ask Khoja to count the hair himself and find the
number of stars in the sky.”
Then in an attempt to answer the second question, Birbal drew
some lines on the floor ‘and fixed an iron rod on the ground and said,
“This is the centre of the earth. If Knoja has any doubts, he may
measure it and find the answer to his second question.”
While answering the third question Birbal said, “Maharaj! It is very
difficult to find the exact number of men and women separately.
Because, apartfrom men and women on this earth, there is. a category
of those too, like our khoja, who are neither male nor female. So, this is
my humble request, Your Majesty, that if all such people, who don’t
come under any category, are killed, it will become easy for me to count
men and women separately.”
All the courtiers burst into laughter to hear Birbal’s answers. Khoja
left the court quite embarrassed.
OQ

69
 28
THE COBBLER’S JUSTICE
One day, Birbal requested Emperor Akbar, “If ever | commit a crime, let
me choose the judges to decide my punishment. This is my humble
request to you. Please accept it!”
The Emperor agreed and Birbal was indeed very happy.
One day, Birbal committed a serious mistake by chance. The
Emperor sent for Birbal and told him about his mistake. He also asked
Birbal to bear the punishment.

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Birbal requested the Emperor to appoint the judges of his choice.

The Emperor agreed and asked him to choose his own judges.
Birbal appointed five cobblers as the judges in the case. The
Emperor asked with surprise, “What justice can these cobblers do? You
should have chosen some educated persons instead!”
70
 But finally, according to Birbal’s choice the five cobblers were
appointed to hear the case of Birbal.
Birbal explained his mistake to them and asked them to give their
judgement.
Suddenly the cobblers, remembered that some years ago, Birbal
had caused much trouble to them. Hence, they decided to take
revenge.
The first cobbler said, “Maharaj! Birbal has committed a serious
crime: He must pay a fine of one hundred rupees!”
The second cobbler said, “This is too big a punishment?” He
thought that the amount was so heavy that it would affect Birbal’s wife
and children adversely and they would suffer badly. So, he decreased
the amount of fine by twenty rupees.
The third cobbler too found the fine of eighty rupees to be too much
and therefore, he lessened it by sixty rupees.
The fourth cobbler considered even this amount to be too big. The
fifth one too agreed with his collegues.
Finally, after some discussion, it was decided that Birbal should pay
a fine of twenty rupees only.
The Emperor immediately realised that Birbal was clever enough to
have appointed cobblers as judges and thus managed to escape a big
punishment.
The cobblers went away. The Emperor thought of the amount of
twenty rupees to be nothing. But for the poor cobblers, this was
certainly a huge amount. Even after a year’s hard work, it was not
possible for them to save even ten rupees.
He felt pity for the poverty-stricken cobblers and also, was pleased
to see Birbal’s wit and wisdom.
cE)

71
 29
BIRBAL AND THE UNHOLY BRUSH
BirnBAL was a Hindu whereas the majority of the courtiers was of
Muslims. Therefore, all the courtiers including the Emperor decided to
convert Birbal also into a Muslim.
One day, when Birbal was busy working in the court, the Emperor
said, “Birbal, there is a big feast in the palace tomorrow. You are invited
to attend the feast.”
Birbal was busy with some work at that time. He said, ‘Yes’. But
soon, thereafter, he realised his mistake. But by then it was too late. He
had to go to the feast the next day. When food was served, Birbal said
to the Emperor, “Maharaj, we Hindus take God’s name before meals
and sprinkle holy water reciting some ‘mantras.’ We don’t take our food
without observing these rites. Therefore, | beg your kind permission to
do so.”
The Emperor agreed. Birbal started reciting the mantras and
sprinkling water with the help of a brush.
Seeing this, all the Muslim courtiers became furious, because, the
brush with which Birbal was sprinkling water was made of hog’s hair
and according to the Muslim religion, a hog is considered unholy.
All the Muslims thought that their lunch had been desecrated. They
left angrily.
Birbal said, “Maharaj, you had permitted me to do so. Therefore, all
these courtiers have insulted me by going away and we don’t take our
food at a place where we are insulted!”
Saying so, Birbal too got up and left. But, the Emperor, however,
understood what Birbal really had in his mind.
OO

72
 30
BIRBAL AND TANSEN
Birsat being Emperor Akbar’s greatest favourite, had many enemies in
the court. Once, a courtier who was jealous of Birbal said to the
Emperor, “Maharaj, instead of Birbal, you should appoint the world-
famous singer Tansen as your Prime Minister.”
The Emperor said, “Well! | shall have to subject them to a test and
that will determine the entitlement to the post of Prime Minister.”
The next day, Emperor Akbar gave one sealed letter each to Birbal
and Tansen and said, “Take this message to the Emperor of Russia and
bring back his reply to me!”
When Birbal and Tansen reached Russia, they handed over their
letters to the Emperor. The letter said, “Please kill these two
messengers immediately!”
At once, the Emperor of Russia ordered to cut off the heads of
Tansen and Birbal. Accordingly, both were taken by the guards to the
place where their heads were to be hacked Off.
Tansen was very frightened. He started crying and weeping. He
said to Birbal, “Birbal, | don’t want to become a Prime Minister. Please
save me from this death punishment!”
Birbal, on his part was not in the least worried. He whispered
something in Tansen’s ears. Birbal’s words gave Tansen some courage.
Then both of them started arguing between themselves as to who
should first step forward to get his head cut off. Birbal said to the
executioner, “Please kill me first!”
Tansen stepped forward and said, “No sir. Let my head be cut off
first!”
“No, no, let mine be cut off first!”
Those present there were astonished to listen to their argument.
73
They informed this strange incident to the Russian Emperor.
The Emperor too was surprised when he learnt this. He asked
Birbal, “Tell me why is it that you want to be killed first?”
Birbal said, “Your Majesty, This is a secret we would not like to
reveal. You do according to what our Emperor has requested you to do!”
The Emperor now became even more curious. He said, “No! | won't
have any of you two killed, unless | come to know the truth.”
Then Birbal said, “Maharaj, our Emperor, Akbar has a secret wish
of annexing your kingdom. But you are too strong to be defeated.
Emperor Akbar’s guru has told him, that if he sends two innocent men
to your kingdom and makes you behead them, you will become a sinner
and thus, Akbar would get a pretext to attack your kingdom. The guru
had also predicted that the one who sacrifices himself first will be the
Emperor of Russia in his next birth and the person who will be
beheaded afterwards will be the Prime Minister of Russia. So | want
you to kill me first!”
When the Emperor heard this, he refused to kill either of the two. He
said, “It is impossible. | don’t want to become a sinner by killing you two.”
The Russian Emperor sent them back to India. Emperor Akbar was
surprised to see them back safe and alive from Russia.
Tansen said to Emperor Akbar, “Maharaj, Birbal really deserves the
post of prime minister. | would’ve been a dead man had it not been for
the timely help by Birbal.”
All the courtiers who were jealous of Birbal lowered their heads in
shame.
OO

74
 31
WATER VERSUS NECTAR
One day, Emperor Akbar put a question to his courtiers, “Which river's
water is the best of all?”
All the courtiers said in unison, “The water of the Ganges is the
best, Your Majesty!”
But Birbal was silent. The Emperor noticed this and asked Birbal,
“Why are you silent Birbal? You haven't answered my question!”
Birbal said, “Maharaj, the water of the river Yamuna is the best of
all!”
The Emperor was surprised to hear Birbal’s answer. He said, “What
makes you Say this, Birbal? Your holy books have regarded the river
Ganges as pure and holy, and yet you consider Yamuna’s water to be
the best!”
Birbal said, “Maharaj, how can we compare water with nectar? The
water that you see flowing in the river Ganges, is not water; it is nectar.
That is why, | said that Yamuna’s water is tne best!”
All the courtiers were speechless and even the Emperor had to
agree that Birbal was right.
Again, one day the Emperor put another question to all the
courtiers, “Which is that thing upon which the moon’s and the sun's light
doesn't fall?” No courtier had any reply to the question.
Emperor Akbar put forth the same question to Birbal.
Birbal thought for a while and then he said, “Maharaj! there is only
one thing upon which the moon’s or sun’s light does not fall!”
The Emperor asked curiously, “What is it?” Birbal said, “Darkness!
It’s the only thing which neither receives moon’s nor the sun’s light!”
Everyone praised Birbal’s clever answer to the question.
ere
75
 32
THE KING OF EGYPT AND HIS
LOOK-ALIKES
Birsat’s wit and cleverness had spread throughout the world. Even the
king of Egypt had heard the stories of Birbal’s intelligence. Once, he
invited Birbal to his kingdom to test his wit.
Birbal set out to Egypt as per the king’s invitation. The king of Egypt
had arranged some seven-eight dummies who looked exactly like him
and were dressed like the king of Egypt and seated on the thrones. The
king of Egypt was himself sitting amongst them.

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Birbal reached Egypt and entered the king’s court. For a moment,
he looked carefully at each of the kings sitting on thrones and then
reaching in front of the real king of Egypt he bowed before him. The king
76
was very much surprised. He asked, “Birbal! how could you recognise
me so easily?”
Birbal calmly answered, “Maharaj! When | entered your court, |
noticed that all these fake kings were looking towards you. But you were
sitting quite confidently. Though they are disguised as kings, they paid
a lot of attention to you because only you were the real ruler.”
The king was very pleased with Birbal. After sometime, he sent
Birbal to the palace with one of his ministers.
The minister showed around the palace to Birbal. Finally, he
showed him one of the grand royal toilets also to Birbal.
There Birbal saw a huge framed picture of Emperor Akbar hanging
on the toilent wall.
Looking at it, Birbal quickly remarked, “Wow! You have hung
Emperor Akbar’s picture at the perfect place. The effect of the picture is
such, that one gets frightened by looking at it!”
Then, Birbal said to the minister, “I am sure, your king is suffering
from constipation, and in order to avoid using purgatives, he has hung
the picture of Emperor Akbar in his toilet.”
The minister was left soeechless. He understood what Birbal really
meant to say. The king then said, “Birbal, we haven’t hung this picture
to insult your Emperor; it was only to test your intelligence.”
The king of Egypt then sent Birbal back to India with several gifts,
like clothes jewels and camels.
The king then wrote a letter to Emperor Akbar. In it he had said,
“You possess innumerable jewels, but the most precious one is Birbal!”
OQ

77
 33
THE HAIR DYE
One day, Emperor Akbar said to Birbal, “Birbal, | have often observed
that people who have words like ‘wan’ ‘ban’ suffixed to their names, are
very quarrelsome by nature like, gadiwan kochwan, darban etc.”
Hearing this, Birbal replied, “Yes! you are right, Meherban!”
The Emperor’s face reddened with anger to hear Birbal’s reply.
Some time later another incident occured. Owing to old age, the
Emperor's hair had started greying. Therefore, the Emperor dyed his
grey hair in black colour.
One day, during a casual conversation, the Emperor asked Birbal,
“Will this dyeing show an adverse effect on my head?”

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Birbal said, “Maharaj! One who dyes his hair doesn’t have a head
at all. How is it possible for an old man to turn young again?”
The Emperor was embarrassed and from then onwards, he never
dyed his hair.
hha
78
 34
TO CATCH A THIEF
A merchant who was very fond of wearing jewels, lost his diamond
necklace while taking bath.
He enquired from all his servants about the necklace but, all of
them denied having any knowledge of it. Finally, he went to the royal
court and lodged a complaint.
The Emperor asked Birbal to handle the case. Birbal then told the
mercahnt to come the next day to the court along with all his servants!”
The next day, the merchant presented himself before the court
along with all his servants.
Birbal then asked a guard to bring a bundle of sticks. Then he said
to the servants of the merchant, “Il have cast a magic spell on all these
sticks. Each one of you will take a stick and go back home. Come to the
court tomorrow morning. Bring your sticks along with you. The stick of
the servant, who has stolen the diamond necklace, will increase in its
size to the length of four fingers.”
At night, when all were fast asleep the one who had committed the
theft cut off his stick short by four fingers length with the help of a knife.
The next day, he came to the court very confidently. Birbal examined
the sticks of all the servants very carefully. When he saw the stick of that —
servant who had cut it short, he said to the Emperor, “Your ee this
man is the real thief!”
The servent who had committed the theft lowered his head in
shame. Birbal smiled and said, “You fool, there were no magic sticks.
But | knew for sure that the servant who is involved in stealing the
diamond necklace, will reduce the length of the stick to prove himself
innocent. Now, return the necklace!”
The servant surrendered the necklace to Birbal. Birbal gave it back
to the merchant and said, “Sir, it is not wise for a man to move about
laden with jewels.”
OQ
79
 35
THE JUNGLE GOD
One day, the Emperor thought of making a fun of Birbal through one of
his clever plans. He had a trap prepared by a carpenter. The trap was
such that, it didn’t look like a trap at all from its outward appearance.
Then, the Emperor placed a fine Kashmiri apple in the trap and secretly
hid himself near the trap anxiously awaiting Birbal.
After some time, Birbal entered the court. He saw the apple and
casually lifted it. At once, his hand was caught in the trap.
The Emperor immediately came out of his hiding and said, “Wow, it
is you, Birbal! So many small things were being stolen from my palace
and in order to get the thief, | had prepared this trap. But, how come you
got trapped in it? However, | trust you. But, you must not do this again!”
Then, the Emperor smiled and released Birbal from the trap. Birbal
said, “Your Majesty, | saw this fine juicy apple and quite naturally, | went
ahead to pick it up to examine it. | did not really intend to steal it!”
The Emperor however asked Birbal to forget the matter altogether
and not give any justification for his act. But Birbal was very much
embarrassed. The incident had left an unpleasant memory in his mind.
The Emperor took advantage of it and started teasing Birbal by asking
“How was the apple of the cage, Birbal?”
Because of such sarcastic remarks, Birbal would get even more
embarrassed. He wished he could somehow get out of the
embarrassment. At last he hit upon an idea to counter the Emperor.
One day, the Emperor went to the jungle for a hunt. Birbal had
purposely avoided going with him and so the Emperor had to go all
alone. While hunting, the Emperor reached a lonely spot. By now, it was
evening. Suddenly he heard a loud voice saying. “Hey, who are you?
Get down from your horse! Quick!”
80 AKBAR BIRBAL STORIES—S
 The Emperor turned back to see who it was and found that a wild
man dressed in a tiger skin was standing under a big tree with a large
bamboo stick in his hand. The Emperor tried to avoid him and continued
proceeding ahead. Suddenly, the wild man struck his bamboo hard on
the ground and shouted, “Why don’t you get down from your horse? |
am the God of this jungle. You must obey me!”
Now, the Emperor was scared. He dismounted from his horse and
bowed before the God of the jungle. He said, “Oh Lord, | have come
here for hunting because this jungle lies within the limits of my kingdom.
But, now | will go back.” He was about to leave when the God of the
jungle said, “Wait, you have trespassed on my land and so you must
bear the punishment.”
The Emperor was more scared. He said, “Oh Lord, please forgive
me. It has all happened quite unknowingly!”
“Well, in that case you must bear a light punishment. Do you see
that tree over there? Run fast to that tree and while running, keep
saying, “Like the God of the jungle!”
The Emperor obediently did as he was told to do. Then, he returned
to his palace.
The next day, when Birbal came to the palace as usual, the
Emperor asked, “Birbal, how was the apple?”
“Like the God of the jungle,” Birbal at once replied. The Emperor
was surprised. He wondered how Birbal had come to know about the
previous evening’s incident. He said, “Birbal, how did you know about
the God of the jungle?”
Birbal said, “Your Majesty, | had a dream last night. And, it is, in fact
in the dream, that | came to know about the God of the jungle” _
In fact, Birbal himself in disguise of the wildman had made fun of
Emperor Akbar.
From that day onwards, the Emperor stopped teasing and making
fun of Birbal.
ee

81
 36
THREE DONKEYS’ LOAD
THE Emperor and his two sons often used to go to the river to take bath.
Sometimes, Birbal too accompanied the royal family.
Once, as usual they went for a bath to the Yamuna river along with
Birbal. The Emperor and his two sons entered the river water. Birbal
remained on the bank and looked after their clothes.
He stood quietly on the bank guarding their belongings while they
‘happily enjoyed t
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As, the Emperor always looked for an opportunity to tease Birbal,

he quietly told his sons, “Let us make fun of Birbal!” He said to Birbal,
“Birbal, you seem to be standing with a donkey’s load!”
Birbal replied quickly, “Maharaj, not one but | am standing with the
load of three donkeys!”
4 MQ
 37
THE REAL TEST
A blacksmith was skilled in making very strong and fine armour. One
day, some courtiers of Emperor Akbar had an altercation with the
blacksmith. The courtiers wanted to take revenge and therefore, they
poisoned the ears of the Emperor against the blacksmith.
One day, the blacksmith came to the court with a newly made fine
armour. The armour was undoubtedly superb. He showed it to the
Penang:

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But, one of the courtiers suggested to the Emperor, “Maharaj, a test

should first be made whether the armour is of good quality or not. We
can test its quality by giving a hard blow with a sword.”
The Emperor agreed with the courtier. He kept the armour on the
83
floor, and hit it hard with his sword.
The armour broke into two pieces. The Emperor became furious to
see the broken armour. He said to the blacksmith, “Get out of here! Next
time, if you try to cheat me, you will be hanged.”
The blacksmith became worried and thought, “This incident has
closed the doors of the royal court for me; no one will give me work. |
will have to die of hunger!”
But, the blacksmith’s wife asked him not to worry and see Birbal.
“Birbal is very kind. He will certainly help you,” she said.
The blacksmith immediately went to see Birbal. He narrated to him
the entire incident. Birbal had already seen what had happened in the
court. He said, “An armour, however strong it is, is sure to break when
it is kept on the ground and hit with a sword. Don’t worry. Do what | say.”
Then, Birbal asked the blacksmith to act according to his advice.
The blacksmith made another strong armour and went to the court.
He said, “Maharaj, this time, | have made a very strong and durable
armour. You may test it!”
The Emperor asked him to bring the armour to him.
The blacksmith said again, “Maharaj, an armour should always be
tested while on body. | have come wearing the armour. If it breaks with
a blow of the sword, it will injure me also and | will surely die. What is
the use of my living anyway, when | am not successful in my job?”
The Emperor was quick to understand that the idea of the
blacksmith was not his own. Surely, it must be that of Birbal.
He looked at Birbal. Birbal was smiling. The Emperor then called
the treasurer and asked him to give a reward of one hundred gold coins
to the blacksmith.The courtiers had already hung their heads in shame.
OQ

84
 38
THE SIGHTLESS AND THE SIGHTED
One day, Emperor Akbar asked Birbal, “Birbal, wnose number is greater
in this world—the sightless people or those who have sight?
Birbal replied, “Maharaj | have no answer to your question at this
moment. But | am sure that the blind are more in number than those
who can see.
The next day, Birbal placed an unwoven wooden cot in the middle
of a crowded market place and started weaving it. Two clerks sat on
both sides of Birbal with their pens and paper pads.
Soon, a big crowd gathered there to see what was going on. Most
of them who came there asked, “What are you doing Birbal?”
The names of those, who asked this question, were noted down by
one of the clerks sitting there.
When the Emperor heard that Birbal was weaving a cot in the
middle of a busy market-place, he at once rushed to the spot. He too
asked the same question, “Birbal, what are you doing?”
Without giving any reply to the Emperor's question, Birbal said to
his clerk, “Write the name of the Emperor in the first notebook!”
Then the Emperor saw the first notebook and asked, “The list of
blinds! But why is my name written at the top in this list?”
Birbal said, “Though you saw me weaving the cot, you still asked
me, “What are you doing?”
The Emperor noticed that not even a single page of the notebook
containing the list of those individuals who could see had been
completed. But the first notebook was almost full.
Birbal then asked, “Maharaj, are you convinced now that the
number of blind men is far greater than the number those who are
sighted.”
OU
85
 39
THE WEDDING OF THE OCEAN
Once, the Emperor became angry with Birbal for some unknown
reason. He removed him from the post of minister. Birbal left the
kingdom without letting anyone know about his whereabouts.
It was not long before, Emperor Akbar began missing the presence
of Birbal and often remembered him. He wanted to bring Birbal back to
his court. Therefore, he deployed several men to search for Birbal. But,
It was of no use. They could not find his whereabouts.
Finally, an idea came to the Emperors mind. He despatched an
invitation letter to all his neighbouring kings.
In the invitation letter, a message was written—“It is the wedding
ceremony of the ocean of our kingdom. You are requested to send all
the rivers of your state to come flowing and grace the occasion.”
All the kings were puzzled with this strange invitation. However,
Emperor Akbar was their Emperor and so it was obligatory for them to
obey him. But, the answer to the invitation came from only one king. He
had written—‘The rivers of our land are willing to go to your place. But,
all the wells of your kingdom are expected to be present at the capital’s
entrance to welcome them!”
From this shrewed answer, the Emperor immediately came to know
that Birbal must be at that king’s court. He at once sent his special
messenger to that king. Birbal was present there as expected.
The Emperor admitted his mistake and asked Birbal to come back
to Delhi and join his court again.
OO

86
 40
THE SUGAR DIAMOND
A jeweller living in the kingdom of Akbar was very good at cutting and
polishing diamonds. But, because of his old age, he couldn’t do much
work. One day, he came to Birbal and asked for his help.
Birbal listened to him calmly and then giving him a sugar crystal he
said, “Cut this sugar crystal in such a way that it looks just like a real
diamond. If you do this perfectly, | will see that you earn a lot of money.”
After a few days, the jeweller came back to Birbal and showed him
the sugar crystal. The sugar crystal was superbly cut and polished and
it looked like a real diamond.
Birbal was very pleased with the jeweller’s craftsmanship and said,
“You have done a good job. Come with me to the Emperor's court!!”
Birbal went to the Emperor and showing him the sugar diamond,
said, “This man has brought this excellent piece of diamond. Who else
can appreciate its craftsmanship and decide its worth other than Your
Majesty.” eon Eee SS Pate tae ety °
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 As the Emperor was busy with some other work, he placed it in his
pocket. After sometime the Emperor went to take bath. While bathing,
he totally forgot about the diamond and the sugar diamond was
somehow dissolvedin the water.
Afterwards, while dressing up, the Emperor suddenly remembered
the diamond. But where could it be found now? He ordered his guards
to look for it everywhere in the palace. But it was useless scarching for
it.
When the jeweller came to the court the Emperor asked him the
price of the diamond. Then, the craftsman said what Birbal had asked
him to say. “Your Majesty, | had been working upon that diamond for the
last five years. | should at least get twenty thousand gold coins for it. It’s
only then that my hard work will be compensated.”
“Twenty Thousand? No, no, this is too much!” The Emperor said.
The craftsman said, “Maharaj! If you don’t wish to pay its price, you
may please return it to me. | will sell it to some other king!”
Now, the Emperor could say nothing. After all, from where could he
bring it back? The Emperor ordered his treasurer to pay the jeweller
twenty thousand gold coins!
OQ

88
 AT
THE IRON ROD AND THE SHOE
A very crooked and shrewish woman lived in Emperor Akbar’s capital.
Everyday she used to hit her poor husband ten times with her shoes.
One day, one of the courtiers narrated the intractableness of the
woman in the court and said, “If Birbal could tame this woman, he would
be regarded as exceptionally clever!
Birbal accepted the challenge.
Then, the courtier went and met the woman. He told her about what
had taken place, and how Birbal had accepted the challenge of taming
her, and he also explained to her the course of action that she would
have to take to foil the attempts of Birbal in this regard. |
The woman went to Birbal’s place and said, “Look, Raja Birbal! |
beat my husband with my shoes ten times everyday. | have taught my
daughter also to do the same to her would-be-husband. | shall consider
you truly intelligent, if you take the challenge of marrying my daughter.”
Birbal said, “Madam, | am already married. But, my brother who
lives in Jaipur will perhaps marry her.”
“All right. But, he too, as per the precondition, should be ready to
bear ten shoe beatings everyday!” she replied., Birbal said, “Yes, that
remains unchanged.’
Birbal and the woman agreed on this point. He contacted his
brother in Jaipur, who, too, was very clever and intelligent, and told him
about the challenge he had taken. Birbal’s brother agreed to marry the
woman’s daugnNter.
The marriage took place as per agreement. The woman gave her
daughter a pair of brand new shoes and said, “Remember, if you wish
to keep your husband under your control, you will have to beat your
husband ten times a day with your shoes.”
89
 When the procession reached Jaipur, Birbal, suddenly became
very angry and began shouting. The bride asked her husband, “What is
it that makes your brother so angry? Why is he shouting?”
Birbal’s brother said, “My brother is very short tempered. He has
kept an iron rod in the house. Once he is angry, he doesn’t spare
anyone and starts beating everyone in the house mercilessly. You too
will be no exception; get yourself mentally prepared to take the beatings
from him. Moreover, this is our family tradition.”
The bride was terribly scared. She threw herself at the feet of Birbal
and said, “Please sir, have mercy on me. | cannot take the beatings.”
“But this is our family tradition. You will have to bear all this,” said
Birbal angrily. “Hasn’t your mother taught you to beat your husband with
shoes? If your mother has certain family traditions, we, too, have
certain family traditions.”
The bride began weeping. She said, “Il shall never follow the
footsteps of my mother. | shall never beat my husband. | know, my
mother has been much in the wrong. She cannot be considered a good
example for an ideal couple.”
Birbal immediately calmed down; he said in a soft tone, “Sister,
there is no reason why you should be afraid of me. | did all this only to
open your eyes and put an end to the dirty tradition followed by your
mother. A wife becomes lovable only if she loves her husband.”
After some days, the girl’s father started back for his home. Birbal
said to him, “Don’t leave so early. Stay for some more days. Eat, drink,
be healthy and then go!”
When the poor man became healthy enough Birbal gave him a
painted iron rod and told him what to do.
Both of them returned to the capital together. Meanwhile, the
crooked woman was waiting anxiously for her husband to come back.
She had even calculated the number of beatings her daughter would
have given to her son-in-law.
As soon as her husband returned, she asked him to sit down, and
taking a shoe in her hand, she readied herself to beat her husband. But
90
this time the husband was careful, and before she could start beating
him, he picked up the iron rod and struck her on her back with it. The
woman shrieked in pain.
She began pleading,“No, no! For God’s sake, please don’t beat me.
| beg your forgiveness. | shall never beat you in future.” She fell at her
husband’s feet in a gesture of apology.
The courtiers were very much impressed to see that Birbal could
tame a woman of such temperament.
OO

91
 42
BIRBAL’S MASTER
One day Emperor Akbar said to Birbal, “Birbal, since you are so wise,
your Guru must also be full of wisdom. | wish to meet him.”
Birbal kept mum because he did not have any Guru.
He thought for a while and then said, “Maharaj, my Guru is not here;
he has gone on a piigrimage to Vaishno Devi. | am not aware of his
programme about his return.”

“| don’t want any excuses, Birbal. | want to see him and you must
bring him to me within one month’s time,” insisted the Emperor.
Desperate Birbal began thinking of some way to solve the problem.
The problem with Birbal was that he didn’t have a Guru, and at the
same time it was incumbent on him to obey the royal command.
92
 At last he thought of a plan. He called a shepherd, and giving him
one hundred gold coins, he gave certain instructions.
When the shepherd agreed, Birbal fixed artificial beard and
moustache on his face and dressed him in saffron clothes. Now the
shepherd looked like a sage. Birbal took him to a temple and asked him
to sit in a meditating posture, with a string of beads in his hand. He also
instructed the shepherd not to speak to the Emperor; and if the
Emperor tries to offer any gifts to him, he should humbly decline to
accept it with a silent gesture. Birbal warned the shepherd saying, “If
you speak even a single word, there are every chances of your getting
exposed; and, once exposed, you will be hanged.”
The shepherd got frightened, but since he nad accepted one
hundred gold coins for the job, he had to obey Birbal.
Then Birbal went to Emperor Akbar, and informed him about his
Guru’s arrival in the capital.
The Emperor became very happy and accompained by Birbal, he
visited the temple. He bowed before Birbal’s Guru with respect and
said, “Please accept my salutes and also kindly allow me to speak a few
words with you.”
But Birbal’s Guru, remained silent and did not utter a single word.
His silence made the emperor think that, perhaps the Guru wanted
some gifts or some money. Thinking thus, he placed a big bag full of
gold coins before him. But the Guru didn’t even cast an eye at it and
gestured to him to take the bag away and leave the place.
~The emperor came back to his palace fuming with anger. Birbal!
followed him. He said to Birbal, “Tell me Birbal, what should one do,
when one meets a fool.”
“One should keep quiet,” was Birbal’s reply.
The Emperor was taken aback. He thought that Birbal’s Guru must
have considered him a fool; and that’s the reason why he kept quiet.
And of course, trying to flatter a Guru with gold and money was foolish
on his part.
OO
93
 43
BIRBAL’S ADVICE
ONE day, Birbal was sitting outside his house chewing ‘paan’. Just then
he saw one of the Emperor’s servants walking fast on the street.
Birbal called him, “Hey, where are you going? And why are you so
much in a hurry?”
The servant replied, “Maharaj has asked me to bring two seers of
lime.”
Birbal became a little suspicious. He asked, “What was the
Emperor doing when he asked you to bring the lime?”
“After his lunch, | gave His Majesty a ‘paan’. He put it in his mouth
and immediately ordered me to bring two seers of lime!”
Birbal thought for a while and said, “You fool, you must have put
excess lime in his ‘paan’ and the Emperor’s mouth must have burnt. So,
in order to punish you, he has asked you to bring two seers of lime.
Now, | am sure he will make you consume it. As soon as it reaches your
stomach you will die.”
The servant was terribly frightened. My God! What should | do
now?” he asked.
Birbal said, “Look, don’t get panicky. Do as | say. See, butter is an
antidote to lime. Mix together equal parts of butter and lime and the lime
will lose its effect. So, mix one seer of butter with one seer of lime and
then take it to the emperor.”
The servant acted as per Birbal’s instructions. What Birbal had said
turned out to be true. The Emperor asked the servant to eat all the lime.
The servant ate the entire quantity of it. But, even then, he reported for
his duty the next day at the usual time.
The Emperor was surprised to see him alive, and the fact that he
was still alive, stoked up his anger.
94
 The Emperor summoned a lime supplier and told him, “Tomorrow,
| will send a man to you. You throw him in the limekiln.”
The lime supplier agreed. The Emperor then told the servant,
“Look, you go to lime supplier's house and ask for five seers of lime for
me!”
Next morning, the servant, before going to bring the lime, came to
Birbal and told him what had happened on the earlier day.
Birbal listened to the servant and said, “Don’t go just now!”
In fact, the talk between the Emperor and the lime supplier had
taken place in the presence of Birbal and he was fully aware of the plan
hatched by the Emperor and he was also aware that another servant,
who was jealous of this servant, too, had heard the conversation. Birbal
knew that the other crooked servant will definitely go at the appointed
time to witness and enjoy the scene. And that was the reason why
Birbal detained the first servant for some time.
So, the crooked servant reached the house of the lime supplier at
the time when the first servant was supposed to arrive; and, the lime
supplier mistook him to be the servant, who, as per the orders of the
emperor, was supposed to be thrown into the limekiln. The lime supplier
caught him by the nape of his neck and threw him into the limekiln.
After some time, the first servant came to him and asked for five
seers of lime.
The lime supplier thought that this was the Emperor's order and
gave him the lime. The servant returned to the court with the lime.
The Emperor looked at him with astonishment. “Did you meet
anyone on your way?” he asked.
The servant replied, “No, Your Majesty. But on my way, Birbal asked
me to come to him and | went to his place.”
The Emperor quietly took the lime without a single word.
QQ

95
 Aa
THE PEOPLE ARE WITHOUT EYES
“BirBac, tell me! Is the world full of people with eyes or people without
eyes?” The Emperor asked Birbal.
In the opinion of the Emperor the world was full of people who could
see, because whenever one did not want people to know something
people were sure to know about it.
But Birbal did not agree with the views of the Emperor. He felt that
the world was full of people without eyes.
The Emperor then asked Birbal to prove his point.
Then Birbal brought a piece of cloth and wrapped it around his
head.
“What is this?” he asked several people on the street.
“It is a turban,’ they replied.
Birbal removed the piece of cloth from his head and put it around
his neck.
“What is this?” he asked the people on the street.
“That is a muffler,” came the answer from many passersby.
Birbal then wrapped the same piece of cloth around his body and
asked, “What is this?” )
“That is a dhoti,” the people replied.
Then turning to the Emperor, Birbal said, “Look, Maharaj, these
people are with eyes yet they cannot see the real thing. This is just a
piece of cloth, but because it is used in different ways, people call it by
different names and think that these names are different things.”
“So,” continued Birbal, “the world is full of people who are not aware
of the reality and | call such people, blind. That is why | am of the opinion
that the world is full of people without eyes!”
OO
96 AKBAR BIRBAL STORIES—6
 45
THE ANGRY MERCHANT
In the capital, there lived a merchant. He was very short tempered by
nature. Whatever he spoke, he would make it come true.
One day, the merchant was having lunch and at the very first
mouthful he detected a hair in his food. He became furious and shouted
at his wife, “Look if | find a single hair in my food again, | will get your
head shaved off. Beware!”
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The wife was really frightened when she heard this.

She took every care to see that no hair got into the food. And yet,
one day, the merchant found another hair in his food.
He asked his servant to fetch a barber. The servant went to call a
barber.
97
 The merchant’s wife realised that now, she was in trouble. She
secretly sent a message to her brothers.
Then she locked herself up in a room and bolted the door from
inside:
All the four brothers of the merchant's wife lived in the capital. They
became worried to receive their sister's message.
They approached Birbal for help. Birbal said, “All of you go there
with bare upper bodies carrying a towel on your shoulders. | will join you
there soon!”
The four brothers acted according to Birbal’s advice.
Meanwhile, the merchant’s servant had already brought a barber.
The merchant started banging the door of the room in which his wife
had locked herself.
Just then, her four brothers entered the house with towels on their
shoulders.
The merchant was nonplussed to see them. Just then, Birbal too
arrived there and said to one of them, “Come, let us prepare the bier.”
Hearing this, the merchant rushed forward and asked “What is
going on? Who has died here?”
Birbal replied, “No one has died yet. But according to Hindu religion
a woman’s head is shaved only after the death of her husband!”
“We heard that you are getting your wife’s head shaved so we have
made all the preparations in advance.”
The merchant suddenly realised his mistake.
He exclaimed, “Sir, you have opened my eyes. Henceforth, | shall
take care to see that | don’t take a hasty decision in a state of anger!”
OO

98
 46
THE EGGS OF HEN
Even after knowing from his several years of experience with Birbal that
it was not easy to make fun of him, Emperor Akbar could not resist his
temptation to do so occasionally.
One day, when Birbal was yet to arrive at the court, the Emperor
gave every courtier one hen’s egg and told them of his plan to make fun
of Birbal. As usual, when Birbal entered the court, the Emperor said to
him, “Last night, | dreamt of a sage who said to me that only those
courtiers who after diving into the garden pond, are able to come out
with an egg in their hands, will be considered loyal to me. So all of you
should dive into the pond and bring out one egg from it.”
Accordingly, one by one all the courtiers dived into the pond and
each one came out with one egg. Finally, it was Birbal’s turn.
Birbal dived into the pond but was unable to find any egg in it. He
quickly realised that this was one of the Emperor’s plans to make fun of
him.
Birbal came out of the pond and started crowing like a rooster.
The Emperor was irritated to hear Birbal’s cries like a rooster. He
asked, “Birbal, have you gone mad? Each one came out of the pond
with an egg. But there is no egg in your hand. Why?”
Birbal replied, “Your Majesty, only hens can lay eggs. | am a
rooster.”
The Emperor looked at the courtiers and gave a furtive smile; and
the courtiers hung their heads in embarrassment.
OU

99
 47
THE EMPEROR’S DISGUISE
One day, the Emperor thought of frightening Birbal. He painted his face
and taking a horrible form suddenly came before Birbal. |
Birbal saw the Emperor's frightening appearance. But, inspite of
Emperor's strange and horrible form, he greeted him as usual.
He kept quiet as if he was thinking deeply about something.
The Emperor was surprised. He asked him, “Birbal, you should
have been alarmed to see my horrible appearance! But, on the
contrary, you look worried! Why?”
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Birbal said, “Maharaj, at first |was delighted to see you. But then |
wondered as to who had frightened you to such an extent that you had
to take this horrible form.”
The Emperor understood Birbal’s oblique comment; he lowered his
chin and simpered.
al led
100
 48
THE HAND THAT GIVES AND
THAT WHICH TAKES
One day, as usual, immediately, after the Emperor arrived in the
court, he asked the courtiers a question, “Whenever a person gives
something to another person, his hand is above the receiver’s hand.
But when is the situation opposite to this; that is when the receiver's
hand is above the giver’s hand?”
The courtiers didn’t have an appropri ate reply.

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Do you have a suitable reply?”
Birbal said, “Yes, Your Majesty! When a person takes snuff from
someone else’s hand, the situation is altogether different.”
Everyone agreed with Birbal.
YO
101
 49
THE HORSE’S QUESTION!
One day, the Emperor and Birbal went together for hunting. While
chasing their prey, they went a long distance and were far away from
the city.
When they prepared to return, it was evening. They had no
provisions with them. It was the Emperor's usual supper time and he felt
extremely hungry. However, he found it embarrassing to mention it to
Birbal.
But, when he could not bear the hunger anymore and it got the
better of him, he compromised with himself and spoke to Birbal, “Birbal,
| am feeling hungry!”
Fortunately, Birbal had brought some roasted grams along with him
in his hunters’ bag. He gave some grams to the Emperor and kept some
for himself.
They tied their horses to a tree and started eating the roasted
grams. When they had finished eating and Birbal stepped on the
horse’s saddle to mount it, the horse neighed loudly. The Emperor was
Surprised. He asked, “Birbal, why did the horse neigh so loudly?”
Birbal replied politely, “Maharaj, the horse saw us eating his food.
Now he wants to know—who will be mounted —the horse or the
Emperor?”
The Emperor smiled on Birbal’s witty joke.
OO

102
 50
A DROP OF PERFUME AND
AKBAR’S PRESTIGE
On the occasion of Emperor Akbar’s birthday the court was beautifully
decorated. Sweets, perfumes and roses were being freely distributed in
the court.
While applying perfume to his hands, one drop of perfume fell on
the Emperor's carpet. The Emperor quickly bent down trying to dab the
drop with his finger.
But, before he could dab it, the drop was soaked in the thick carpet.
Suddenly, Emperor Akbar noticed Birbal watching him ina curiously
oblique manner. He felt very much embarrassed and began thinking of
some way to prove to Birbal that perfume was of hardly any value to
him.
So, the next day, the Emperor asked his servants to fill the water
tank in the palace with a good quality perfume.
His orders were immediately carried out and the tank was filled with
very good perfume.
Now, the Emperor made an announcement in the capital, “Take
away as much perfume as you want.” |
Immediately, hundreds of people rushed to the royal palace to
collect perfume and the Emperor was highly praised.
The Emperor was very much satisfied. He thought, “Perhaps now,
Birbal will realise that perfume is of hardly any value to me.”
He asked Birbal, “Well, Birbal? Isn’t it fun to distribute royal perfume
among the subjects? See how happy they are.”
Birbal calmly replied, “Maharaj, the prestige lost due to one drop of
perfume cannot be regained by a tankful of it!”
OO
103
 51
THE GOOD THINGS
One day, the Emperor suddenly, asked the courtiers three questions—
Whose son is the best? Whose tooth is the best? Which quality is the
best?
All the courtiers started discussing the question amongst
themselves. One of the elder courtiers replied, “Maharaj! A king’s son
is the best. An elephant’s tooth is the best and ‘knowledge’ is the best
quality.
The Emperor listened to the answers and thought—had Birbal
been there, he would have given a more appropriate reply.
Therefore, he immediately sent for Birbal. Birbal came at once to
the court. He was asked to answer those three questions.
Birbal replied, “Your Majesty, a cow’s son is the best. Because, it is
he who ploughs the earth. Even his dung can be used as fertiliser.
Crops can be grown by it and also, food can be produced for all.
Now, the second answer is that a plough’s tooth is the best. It
ploughs the land and makes it fertile. It enables us to raise crops.
Then, in reply to the third question, Your Majesty, | would say that
‘courage is the best quality of all. Howsoever intelligent a person may
be, he cannot do anything if he lacks courage. Though “knowledge is
the greatest wealth, courage is more important.
The Emperor and the other courtiers were very pleased with
Birbal’s wise answers.
OO
 02
THE REAL SLAVE
A rich man had a slave. One day, the slave robbed his master’s house
and absconded. :
But, a few days later, when the master was going somewhere, he
spotted his slave in a crowded market. The slave also saw his master.
But there was no way for him to escape. Before the master could take
any action, the slave held his master firmly by his arms and said, “You
scoundrel! | have found you. Where were you running? | have spent a
large amount on you.”
At first, the master was stunned. But then, suppressing his anger,
he said, “Cunning rascal! you think | am your servant? Return to your
household duties, otherwise, | will thrash you badly.” A big quarrel
started between them on the street. Finally, they were taken to Birbal to
solve the dispute.
The master narrated Birbal the entire matter, “Sir, | had bought him
for a large amount but now, he says that | am his slave!” Both of them
said the same thing about each other.
Birbal then said to a guard, “Take them to a window and make them
stick their heads out of it.”
The guard obeyed Birbal. Then, Birbal told another guard, “Take a
sword and cut off the slave’s head!”
But before the guard could strike at the neck of one of them with his
sword, the real slave quickly retracted his head in panic! It was exactly
what Birbal had expected! He ordered the slave to go back to his master
and work for him.
Everyone praised Birbal’s intelligence and cleverness.
OQ

105
 53
THE MISER AND HIS DIAMONDS
There was a miserly man living in the city of Delhi. He used to
spend a very meagre amount for his living. Thus, he had saved a lot of
money.
He had bought many pearls and diamonds out of his savings. But,
he lived so simply that no one would ever imagine that he owned
diamonds and gems.
The miser lived in a very small hut. But, in the very same hut, he had
carefully hidden his jewels and gems wrapped in an old torn dirty cloth
bag.
One day the miser’s hut caught fire. He started crying loudly.
His neighbours tried to extinguish the fire, but despite the best of
their efforts, the fire increased rapidly. Now, the miser started crying
even more loudly.
Hearing his loud cries, a jeweller who was his neighbour got very
irritated and said, “Stupid, what valuables are there in your hut that you
are crying so loudly?”
The miser replied, “I am not crying for my hut, | am crying for my
diamonds and pearls.”
Quite surprised, the jeweller asked, “But where have you kept
them?”
The miser told him about the place where he had the diamonds and
pearls hidden. The jeweller was very greedy. He said, “If | am able to
take out the pearls and diamonds safely, | shall give you whatever | like.
The rest | shall keep with myself. Do you agree?”
The miser thought, instead of losing everything, it was better to gain
something. So, he agreed. ,
The jeweller entered the burning hut and within moments came out
106
with the bag containing the diamonds and pearls. He kept all the pearls
and diamonds with himself and gave the dirty old bag to the miser. The
miser became furious, but the jeweller cunningly said, “You had agreed
to accept whatever | give you.”
The miser begged, “Sir, you have taken out the bag from the fire at
the cost of your life. You may take half of the diamonds and pearls”
The jeweller smiled and said, “Not at all, | had told you in the very
beginning that | shall give you whatever | like.”
The miser didn’t agree with the jeweller and finally, he went to the
Emperor. The Emperor listened to him and referred the case to Birbal.
Birbal heard the case and asked them, “What was decided between
you two?”
The jeweller said, “It was decided between us that if | take out the
bag from the burning hut | will give him whatever | like.”
Then Birbal asked the miser, “Is it true?”
The miser replied, “Yes, sir!”
“Then what do you want?” Birbal asked the miser. “But, sir, he is
taking all the diamonds and pearls and giving me only this dirty old bag,
said the miser.”
Birbal asked the jeweller, “What is your liking?”
“Sir, the diamonds and pearls, of course!”
“Then, what is the problem? Give the diamonds and pearls to him,
as you like them and take the bag for yourself.” Birbal said to the
jeweller.
The jeweller looked aghast. Birbal said further, “What was decided
between you two? You will give him, whatever you like. Right? So as you
like diamonds and pearls, give them to him and keep the bag for
yourself; that’s all!”
The jeweller lowered his head in shame!
OQ

107
 54
THE EMPEROR AND THE HOLY BOOK
One day, the Emperor said to Birbal, “Birbal, In your holy-book, it is
written somewhere that, once Lord Vishnu ran all alone, hearing the
cries of an elephant. He didn’t even take his servants along with him.
Why is it so? Weren't there any servants?”
Birbal said, “Maharaj, | shall answer your question at the right
moment!”
Several days later, Birbal called the servant whose duty was to take
the Emperor’s grandson for a stroll everyday. Birbal gave him a statue
of the Emperor’s grandson made of wax.
He said to the servant, “Today when you take the Emperor’s
grandson for a walk, you take this statue also with you. Then pretend to
have slipped near the tank in the garden. But, you should fall in such a
manner that this statue is thrown into the water. Your successful
performance will fetch you a handsome reward!”
The servant did as Birbal had asked him to do. As soon as he came
near the tank, he, knowingly slipped and fell down throwing the statue
into the tank.
The Emperor saw this happening from his balcony. He at once
rushed to the spot and jumped into the tank with his clothes on. But he
found the statue of his grandson in the water and realised his mistake.
Birbal was standing near the tank. He said, “Maharaj, Why did you
yourself rush to the tank to save your gransdson? Didn’t you have
servants? Why didn’t you bring your servants with you?”
Birbal further said, “Your Majesty, just as your grandson is dear to
you, So are the devotees of Lord Vishnu to him. That’s the reason why
on hearing the cries of the elephant for help, he himself ran to save him.”
OO
108
 eke)
BIRBAL’S ILLNESS
Once, Birbal fell ill and didn’t attend the court for many days. The
Emperor got anxious and thought of visiting Birbal.
So, one day he went to Birbal’s place. Birbal was very happy to see
the Emperor.
Birbal had become very weak owing to fever. The Emperor wanted
to know if Birbal’s illness had affected his mental capacities. So, when
Birbal went to another room to have some water, the Emperor stealthily
placed four pieces of paper under the four legs of his bed.
When Birbal returned and lay on the bed, he noticed that there was
some change in the room. He looked around to find out what it was.
Meanwhile, the Emperor kept chatting with him on purpose but
Birbal was finding it difficult to be attentive.
Finally, the Emperor asked Birbal the cause of his diverted
attention. Birbal replied, “I realise that some change has taken place in
this bed.”
“What change?” the Emperor asked with surprise.
“It appears as if the bed has sunk to a thickness of a paper or has
risen otherwise!”
The Emperor understood that Birbal’s illness had not at all affected
his brain.
But still, acting as if he had understood nothing, the Emperor said,
“One often feels like that during illness.”
Birbal said, “Maharaj! Though | am physically ill, | am mentally all
right.”
The Emperor smiled and told him what he had done.
OO

109
 56
THE DOG’S ROTI
One day, the Emperor and Birbal while taking a walk reached a small
village.
In the way, the Emperor saw a dog who was eating a stale, biack
and dried piece of roti.
The Emperor thought of teasing Birbal. He said, “Look Birbal! that
dog is eating ‘Kali’.” |
Birbal understood what the Emperor meant. He replied, “Maharaj,
It is ‘Niyamat’ for him!”
The Emperor lost his temper. He shouted, “Birbal, Don’t you know,
my mother’s name is ‘Niyamat’ and you say that the dog is eating
‘Niyamat’.
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Birbal replied politely, “Maharaj, first, you gave ‘Kali’ to the dog to
eat. You know very well that my mother’s name is ‘Kali’.”
But the Emperor interrupted, “I didn’t utter your mother’s name. The
roti was stale and had turned black.”
Birbal replied, “But | also did not take your words seriously,
Maharaj. | said that however stale and black the roti may be, it is
‘Niyamat’, that is, ‘delight’ for that hungry dog. | didn’t mean to insult
your mother!”
The Emperor kept quiet.
110
La la
 OW f
“DAULAT”
One day Daulat, a slave, who worked at Emperor Akbar’s court, made - '
some mistake and incurred his wrath. Emperor Akbar asked him to
leave the court.
He went to Birbal’s house. Birbal listened to him and suggested,
“Once again, you go to the court and ask the Emperor, “Daulat has
come, should he stay or leave?”
The Emperor was surprised to see him back. Daulat said to him,
“Forgive me, Your Majesty. Should ‘Daulat’ stay or go away?”. The
Emperor was pleased with the double meaning of ‘Daulat’ (riches). He
said, “Let it stay!”

None with a balanced state of mind = ould say, “Let ‘Daulat’ (riches)
go away?”
“Tell me,” the Emperor asked him, “who gave you, this idea?”
_ Daulat said, “It was Birbalji, Sir!”
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111
 58
THE MERCHANTS ARE CLEVERER
One day, Birbal and the Emperor were standing on the terrace and
talking with each other.
Very casually, the Emperor asked Birbal, “Birbal, who are the
cleverest of all the people?”
“Maharaj, the merchants are the cleverest of all the people!” Birbal
replied.
But Akbar asked Birbal to prove his point. Birbal asked a servant to
bring some ‘Urad’ dal. Then he sent for a dozen leading grocers of Delhi
to come to the court.
The merchants became worried. But, it was not possible for them to
refuse the invitation. Hence, they assembled at the court. The Emperor
was also present there. Then, Birbal placed some grains of the ‘dal’ on
every merchant’s palm and asked them to name the pulse (dal).
Birbal’s question puzzled the merchants to quite an extent. They
thought, “This dal is so common that everyone knows about it. It is
found everywhere. Yet, Birbal is asking to identify it. This means that
there is something fishy about it. We should give the answer after a
careful thinking. Otherwise, we may have to cut a sorry figure.”
Finally, one of the grocers said, “Sarkar! Please allow us some time
to consult amongst ourselves and then answer your question.”
“All right!” Birbal said. The Emperor was watching this curiously.
All the merchants began discussing amongst themselves. They
thought, if they say that this is ‘Urad dal’, the Emperor may not be
pleased as he already knows that it is ‘Urad dal’.
Even after a lot of thinking, they could not come to any decision.
Birbal said, “Come on, tell its name.”

hse AKBAR BIRBAL STORIES—7

 Then, one of the merchants said, “Sir, this is “Moong’ dal. Then, the
second merchant said, “Maharaj! This is ‘Chana’ dal. But, | can’t
remember its name properly.” The third merchant said, “I think, this is
‘Arhar’ dal.”
The Emperor got irritated to listen to those wrong answers and
said, “You fools! This is ‘Urad’ dal!”
At once, all the merchants said together, “You are right, Maharaj!
That is the name of this pulse!”
Birbal said, “Tell the exact name yourself!”
The merchant replied, “Sarkar! What Maharaj has just said is the
name of this thing!”
Birbal understood their cleverness and said, “Il cannot remember
what Maharaj said. Can you repeat the same.”

But the merchants replied, “Sir, we too have forgotten what Maharaj
said!” Now, the Emperor could not remain quiet. He said, “I had said, it
was ‘Urad’ dal!”
All the merchants replied at once, “Yes, yes Maharaj, that was the
name!”
In this manner, they did not utter the exact name under any
condition.
Birbal asked them to leave the court. When the merchants had
gone, Birbal said to the Emperor, “Did you see Maharaj, how clever the
merchants are?”
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113
 59
A STRAW IN THE THIEF’S BEARD
One day, the Emperor thought of an idea and decided to befool Birbal.
He gave his ring to one of the courtiers and asked him to keep quiet.
When Birbal came to the court, the Emperor said to him, “Birbal, today
while taking bath | lost my ring! But | am sure that one of the courtiers
must have stolen it. | know you are a good astrologer. Now, it is your
responsibility to you find the thief. My ring is very precious.”
Birbal said, “Where had you kept the ring before going for the
‘bath?’ The Emperor pointed towards a cupboard. Birbal went near the
cupboard and placed his ear close to it as if he was trying to hear
something. After some time, he said, “The cupboard has informed me
that there is a small straw in the beard of the person who has stolen the
ring.”
When the courtier who had the ring in his possession heard Birbal,
he touched his beard to examine it.
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Birbal saw the courtier examining his beard and at once took him
before the Emperor and said, “Maharaj this is the thief!” The Emperor
was very pleased with Birbal and gave him a handsome reward.
11400 Oa
 60
THE BAG OF COINS
Once, there was a big quarrel between an oil seller and a butcher, and
unable to settle their dispute, they went to Birbal.
When Birbal asked the butcher the reason behind the quarrel, he
said, “I was selling meat in my shop when this oil seller approached me
and asked me to bring the oil-container. But, when | had gone inside to
fetch it, he took my bag full of money and began claiming that it was his
bag.
But the oil-seller said, “No, sir, this is not true. The bag is really
mine. In fact when | was taking out coins from the bag, he saw the
money and began claiming that it was his. | want justice, Sir.”
Birbal repeatedly asked them to come out with the truth but both of
them insisted on their statement.

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Finally, Birbal hit upon a solution to the tricky problem and poured
water in a vessel and dipped all the coins from the bag in it. At once, a
thin film of oil started floating upon the water surface; it clearly meant
that the bag belonged to the oil-seller. So, Birbal returned the bag of
coins to the oil-seller and punished the butcher.
OO
115
 61
THE WAIL OF THE RIVER
In was rainy season. Yamuna river was running in spate and
overflowing. The gushing water was making a loud noise. The
Emperor's palace was situated on the river bank. He was fast asleep.
lt was a peaceful night and so, the frightening sound of the roaring
river could be heard very clearly.
Suddenly in the midnight, the Emperor woke up because of the loud
roaring sound of the river. He tried again to go back to sleep but the
.sound of the swirling water was so frightening and loud that he could
not go to sleep again.
Finally, he got up and went near the window. Hearing the gushing
water, the Emperor thought,—‘could it be that the river was wailing?’ He
thought for a long time but he could not come to any conclusion.
The next morning, when the Emperor came to the court, he asked
the courtiers, “Why is the river wailing?” But no one could give a
Satisfactory answer to it. Then the Emperor sent for Birbal.
When Birbal came, Emperor Akbar asked him the same question.
Birbal said, “Your Majesty, | shall be able to answer your question only
after listening to the river with my own ears.”
The Emperor agreed, “Well, then tonight, you be in my palace!”
In the night, it was calm and quiet everywhere and the river could
be heard weeping. Birbal was with the Emperor in his palace.
_Again, the Emperor posed the same question before Birbal. Birbal
said, “Your Majesty, the river is going to her husband's (the sea’s place)
from her father (mountain). She is feeling very sad to leave her father’s
house and so, she is wailing.”
The Emperor and other courtiers were very pleased with Birbal’s
reply.
ae
116
 62
THE MERCHANTS’ DUTY
Once, the Emperor issued an order that all the merchants of the city
shall have to perform the duty of guarding the city also.
The merchants were very confused on this issue. How could they,
who were selling oil, salt, sugar and grain for years, suddenly take up
the guarding duty? But they had to obey the Emperor's orders.
At last, having failed to find any alternative, they came to Birbal.
They begged before him to bring a solution to this problem.

Birbal said, “There is no need to worry. You do as | tell you. In the

night, when you go on your round to guard the city, tie your turbans to
your legs and cover your head with pyjamas and keep saying, ‘It's our
turn, now!”
117
 Birbal also told them what to say if they met the Emperor on the
way. As decided, the merchants walked on the streets crying, “It’s our
turn now!” .
Meanwhile, the Emperor had come out, to see what the merchants
were doing.
He was surprised to see them dressed in a strangely odd manner.
He asked them, “What is going on?”
The leader of the merchants folded both his hands and politely said,
“Maharaj, we merchants have, all along.in our life, done business only;
selling grains, oil, sugar and salt. We don’t have the traits of a
watchman. We may be deft in business, in selling and purchasing; we
may be experts in keeping an account of our money and profits, but this
wouldn’t mean that we are capable of performing every kind of job.
Guarding the city is simply beyond our capability, my lord. We don't
mean disobedience, we only mean to express our incapability in this
line.”
The Emperor was pleased with the merchant’s reply. He widrew his
orders.
He called the merchants and asked, “Tell me the truth! Who told you
to do all this?”
The merchants told him the truth and, the Emperor who had
already guessed the person behind all this, was further pleased with
Birbal’s wisdom.

OO
118
 63
BIRBAL & THE SEED OF A TREE
BirBat was the Emperor's greatest favourite. He was consulted by the
Emperor in each and every matter. However, some senior courtiers in
the court took it as an insult to them; the royal favour extended to Birbal,
had made them achingly jealous of him.

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One day, when the Emperor entered the court, he noticed that all
the courtiers were sitting silent and motionless. The Emperor sensed
some air of uneasiness among them, but could not understand the
reason behind their silence. Besides, Birbal was not present in the
court. |
Emperor Akbar tried to make the courtiers talk broaching several
topics. But, it was of no use. At last he became desperate and asked
119
them the reason behind their silence.
Then, an elderly courtier began saying politely, “Your Majesty, for
several years we have been serving you loyally. But, still to our great
disappointment, you always consult only Birbal for any matter
whatsoever. Why is it so? We feel, it is an insult to all of us!”
The Emperor thought for a while and said, “Well, today Birbal has
not attended the court. It is a good opportunity to prove your worth. | will
ask you a question, “Where is the seed of a tree situated?”
All the courtiers were lost in thinking. But, not a single one was able
to give a satisfying answer.
Then, the Emperor said, “You can see for yourselves that none of
you is able to give the right answer. Now, it is necessary for me to seek
the help of a clever and wise man like Birbal. Had you been capable
enough, | wouldn’t have needed an adviser. Now, let’s see what answer
does Birbal have to my question.”
The Emperor sent for Birbal. When Birbal arrived at the court, he
was asked, “Where is the seed of a tree situated?”
At once, Birbal asked a servant to bring a tumbler of water. When
the water was brought, Birbal sprinkled it on the ground and said,
“There lies a seed at this place.”
The courtiers and the Emperor understood what Birbal meant, but
even then the Emperor asked, “Birbal, your answer needs to be further
elaborated.”
Birbal said, “Your Majesty, the seeds of a tree are situated in the
earth itself. As soon as some drops of water fail on the earth, these
seeds spring to life and grow. Only water is needed.”
All the courtiers were very much impressed and praised Birbal for
his intelligent answer. They admitted their incapability and realized that
they were really no match for Birbal.
The Emperor, pleased with Birbal’s answer, gave him a handsome
reward.
ag

120
 64
THE IDEA OF THE KHOJAS
One day, the Emperor got angry with the ‘Khojas’ and ordered them to
leave the kingdom within a fortnight, failing which they would be
hanged.
But, even after a period of fifteen days the ‘Khojas’ did not leave the
capital. However, for the fear of being hanged, they went in hiding in
Delhi.
Several months passed in this manner. But it was not possible for
them to live in their hiding for a long time. Ultimately, they went to Birbal
and told him about their plight.
Birbal told them to act as per his advice.
The next day, as usual, when Emperor Akbar went for a walk, he
saw that all the ‘Khojas’ were sitting on tree branches. The Emperor
was furious but at the same time, he was also surprised.
He asked, “Why you people have still not left Delhi? You have
disobeyed the royal order and now all of you must be hanged.”
The ‘Khojas’ politely said with folded hands, “Maharaj, all these
days, we tried to leave the capital but wherever we went, we found that
it was your kingdom. Now, finally we have decided to leave this world
and go to live in the hell.”
The Emperor was so much pleased with their reply that he forgave
them and allowed them to continue living in Delhi.
OQ

121
 65
THE DONKEY AND THE EMPEROR
One day, Emperor Akbar and Birbal went together for a walk. At the
sunset Birbal sat down on the river-bank and performed ‘sandhya’—the
Hindu ritual. The Emperor was very much impressed. He said to Birbal,
“Birbal, tell me how to perform ‘sandhya’. |like it very much and | too like
to dow’
Birbal replied, “Your Majesty, only Brahmins are supposed to
perform ‘sandhya’ and not others.”
“Then, make me a Brahmin,” Emperor Akbar said.
Birbal replied, “No Maharaj, it is not possible!” But the Emperor
insisted, “Why not? For me, everything is possible!”
Birbal was in a fix. He said, “Please give me some time for this.”
The Emperor agreed. But after a few days, he again reminded
Birbal of his promise. Then Birbal called a potter and said to him,
“Tomorrow evening, you come to the riverside with your donkey and
bathe him by scrubbing him vigorously. The Emperor and | will come
there at that time. When we ask, ‘What are you doing?’ You would say,
‘Lam changing this donkey into a horse!’ ”
Accordingly, the next day, the potter came to the river bank with his
donkey. He started bathing and scrubbing the animal. The Emperor
who happened to notice this strange sight asked the potter, “What are
you doing?”
“Maharaj, | am changing my donkey into a horse,” said the potter
politely. The Emperor roared into laughter. He said to Birbal, “This man
appears to be mad. Can anyone change a donkey into a horse?”
Birbal said, “Your Majesty, if one cannot change a donkey into a
horse, how is it possible to convert a Muslim into a Brahmin?”
The Emperor was convinced and said, “Birbal, you are right!”
122 Og
 66
A DOG AND A SON-IN-LAW
One day, Emperor Akbar said to Birbal, “Birbal! Bring me two such
animals—one of which has a sense of gratitude and the other who
forgets all this and takes to treachery.”
After thinking deeply over the matter, Birbal brought a dog and his
own son-in-law to the court.
He presented them before the Emperor, and said, “Maharaj, | have
brought these two as per your wish!”
The Emperor asked, “Birbal, now explain who is faithful and who is
treacherous?”
Birbal replied, “Jahanpanah, this dog eats only leftovers and yet
remains faithful to his master. Even if he is beaten or driven out of the
house, he remains loyal to his master and comes to him at once when
called back.
But, on the contrary, a son-in-law is a very ungrateful person. Even
if you give him everything, he is never satisfied. The more you give him,
the more he wants. He only thinks about his own interest. Even if his
father-in-law has to take to begging on the streets!”
The Emperor was very pleased with Birbal’s answer and asked the
guards to hang Birbal’s son-in-law to death. Then, he ordered them to
give enough milk to the dog.
Birbal was taken aback to hear the Emperor’s orders. He said,
“Jahanpanah! But | did not mean that only my own son-in-law is an
ungrateful person. | referred to all the sons-in-law in the world.
Therefore, it would be unfair to punish only my son-in-law. You too are
someone’s son-in-law.”
The Emperor realised his mistake and withdrew his orders.
cel ial
123
 67
THE VALUE OF THE EMPEROR
One day, while moving about in the capital in disguise, the Emperor
heard a conversation going on between two men. One of them was
saying to the other, “You won’t understand my worth, unless the right
time comes.”
Suddenly, a thought occurred to Emperor Akbar’s mind that ‘If the
worth of a man can be estimated, what would be my own?’ He returned
to the palace and asked the question in the court, “What is my value?”
No one was able to answer him. Finally all started looking towards
Birbal. However, Birbal said calmly, “Maharaj, only a jeweller can tell
you!”

At once, all the jewellers of the capital were summoned to the court.
The Emperor put the same question to them. They all were quite
confused to hear Emperor's question.
124
 Finally, an elderly jeweller came up with a reply, “Maharaj, this job
is quite difficult, please give us eight days time.”
The same evening, he and all the other jewellers went to Birbal and
requested him to find a solution. Birbal assured them of all the possible
help in the matter. Afterwards, he went to the mint and ordered for a
heavier and larger gold coin than the normal ‘mohurs.’
When the coin was ready, he put it in a bag filled with other one
hundred regular gold coins. He called the jewellers and gave it to them.
He also told them what to do on the next day in the court.
Accordingly, the jewellers arrived at the court with the bag of coins
and a weighing balance. The leader of the jewellers started weighing
the gold coins one after the other on the balance. Then at last he took
out the heavier gold coin and weighing it, he said, “Maharaj, this is your
value!”
The Emperor was surprised. He said, “What! Am | worth only a gold
coin?”
The jeweller then replied, “Yes, Your Majesty! This coin is unique. All
the other coins are similar but this one is different from the rest. The
same way, you are different from all the other common people. So, just
as the price of this coin is more than the others, your value is greater
than that of the common beings.”
The Emperor was pleased with the jeweller’s clever reply.
OO

125
 68
AN ANGEL AND A WITCH
One day, the Emperor expressed his desire to see an angel and an ugly
witch. He expressed his wish to Birbal.
The next day, Birbal came to the court along with his wife and a
prostitute. Then presenting his wife he said to the Emperor, “Maharaj,
this is an angel. | get endless satisfaction and happiness from her.”
The Emperor looked at Birbal’s wife and said, “Birbal, but the angels
are said to be very beautiful..She is dark and weak. In the Puranas,
angels have been described as stunning beauties.”
Then Birbal said, “Maharaj! True beauty lies in the quality of an
individual, not in the colour of the skin. She is an angel for me.”

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Birbal, now brought the prostitute before the Emperor. The Emperor
Saw her and exclaimed, “Wow! She is such a beauty! Look at her
beautiful clothes and expensive ornaments.” Upon which Birbal said, “All
these are just to flatter the world. He who comes under her evi shadow,
surely destroys his own life.” The Emperor understood Birbal and reali-
zed that character and quality of a person determine his or her beauty.
126 OU
 69
THE BULLOCK CARTS
Once, the Empress said to Emperor Akbar, “I shall be convinced of your
love for me, only if you make my brother, Sherkhan, the minister and
remove Birbal from the post.” However, Birbal was the Emperor’s
favourite. The Emperor tried to reason with her, but, the Begum was
adamant on her demand.

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Finally the Emperor had to say, “Well! In that case, | shall have to
first test your brother’s knowledge and if he is successful | shall make
him the minister.”
One evening, Sherkhan, the Empress and the Emperor were sitting
in the balcony. Just then, they heard the sound of bells coming from
bullock carts. The Emperor said to Sherkhan, “Go and find out, where
127
the bullock carts are going.”
Sherkhan went to see where the carts were heading to. After some
time, he came back and told the Emperor, “The carts are going
westward.”
The Emperor further asked, “How many carts are there?” Again
Sherkhan went back and came back after counting the bullock carts.
“Your Majesty, there are one hundred carts!”
“What are they carrying?” The Emperor asked Sherkhan.
By now, Sherkhan was almost tired and fed up. Being sent
repeatedly to find details about the bullock carts irritated him.
In the meantime Birbal also came and joined them. The Emperor
said to him, “Birbal, go and find out what is loaded on those bullock
carts.”
Birbal went to find cut. Sherkhan, now totally exhausted, was sitting
there quietly.
Birbal returned after two hours. The Emperor asked him, “What is
your report, Birbal?”
“Your Majesty, one hundred bullock carts were proceeding in the
west direction. They were loaded with good quality rice and it was
cheaper than the market price. | have bought all that rice. |am going to
tell the treasurer to pay the price.”
Birbal went back. The Empress and Sherkhan were quite
embarrassed. The Emperor said to the Empress, “See, this job isn’t
meant for a pampered brother. it needs a wise, experienced and trained
man!”
The Empress’ face was all red with embarrassment.
OQ

128 AKBAR BIRBAL STORIES—8

 70
THE SONS-IN-LAW FOR HANGING
One day the Emperor was in a very bad mood.
The reason was that the Emperor had not been able to meet his
married daughter for several days. Therefore, he sent a message to his
son-in-law, asking him to send his daughter to the palace immediately.
But Akbar’s son-in-law refused to send his daughter. The Emperor
became furious.

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He called Birbal and said to him, “Birbal, make arrangements for

hanging all the sons-in-law, of the kingdom!”
Birbal said, “Yes, Your Majesty!”
Then, Birbal started making necessary arrangements. He erected
a number of gallows on a big ground. Then he came to the Emperor.
129
“Your Majesty, every arrangement has been made for hanging the
sons-in-law. But it would be better if you come to inspect the
arrangements!”
“Yes, indeed”, the Emperor replied. “Come! Let us do it right now.”
Then Birbal and the Emperor went to see the arragements. The
Emperor was very happy with the arrangements. But, he was very
much surprised to see the last row of gallows. There were two special
gallows. One was made of gold and the other was of silver.
“What is this Birbal?”The Emperor asked, “For whom are these two
gallows, of gold and silver, made?”
“Your Majesty,” Birbal replied, “The golden gallow is for you, and this
silver one is for myself.” |
“What nonsence, Birbal!” The Emperor exclaimed.
“Yes, this is true your Majesty.”
“But, how dare you send me to the gallows?” the Emperor asked
angrily.
“Because you asked for it.” Birbal replied.
“|?” the Emperor asked with surprise.
“Yes, Your Majesty.’ Birbal explained. “You yourself ordered to send
all the sons-in-law of the kingdom to the gallows? You too are
someone's son-in-law. So, | have erected these special gallows for you
and myself! Tomorrow, we will start sending the sons-in-law to the
gallows. You will be the first, to be followed by me, then the rest of the
sons-in-law.”
The Emperor felt embarrassed to hear Birbal’s words. He realized
how foolish he had been to pass on such orders. He immediately
announced the withdrawl of his orders.
OO)

130
 71
THE POT OF WISDOM
For quite some time, the Empress had been trying to make her brother
Sherkhan the minister in the court of Emperor Akbar.
One day, she stubbornly said, “My brother Sherkhan, has now
become very experienced. Now, you must appoint him as your
minister.”

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The Emperor had no choice but to give his consent. On the next
day, he removed Birbal from the post of minister and gave it to
Sherkhan.
Meanwhile, the King of Lanka came to know that Birbal was not
working for Emperor Akbar anymore. He thought to himself, ‘Now, this
is my turn to make a fun of Emperor Akbar. | will, for sure, teach hima |
131
 lesson’. He sent a message by hand to the Emperor. In it was written,
“| want a potful of wisdom. So, please make it convenient to send it to
me as soon as possible. However, if you can’t, | will understand that no
more wisdom is left with the great Emperor Akbar.”
The Emperor asked the new minister to do this odd job. Sherkhan
became worried. He consulted many great scholars but, failed to give
a befitting reply. Finally, he approached his sister and told her the whole
story. He said, “Ooh! | am fed up of being a Wazir!”
The Empress at once went to Birbal. Birbal said, “Begum Sahiba,
you need not worry at all!”
Then, Birbal sowed some pumpkin seeds in the palace garden. In
due course of time, the pumpkin flowered and small pumpkins began
growing on the creeper. Then Birbal called a potter and told him to bring
‘six large pots with narrow mouths.”
The potter immediately made six such pots and brought them to
Birbal. 3
Birbal inserted small pumpkin fruits in each of the six pots and left
them on the ground.
After a month, the pumpkins grew inside and filled the hollow of the
pots. Birbal plucked them along with the pots.
Taking those pots containing pumpkins, he said to the Emperor,
“Send one of these pots to the King of Lanka along with a letter.”
The Emperor wrote in the letter, “As per your demand, we are
sending you a pot of wisdom. Please take it out without damaging the
pot, and send the pot back to us. In case, the wisdom sent is not
enough, inform us. We have some more of this variety with us.”
When the King of Lanka read this letter he at once understood that
the idea must have been that of Birbal and not of Sherkhan. When the
Empress came to know about what had happened in Lanka she
immediately advised the Emperor to remove Sherkhan from
ministership and said that “Only Birbal is fit to be the Wazir.”
OQ

132
 72
THE DEFEAT OF A PUNDIT
One day, a Pundit came to the court of Emperor Akbar. He was wearing
many gold bracelets. He bowed before the Emperor and said, “Your
Majesty, | have defeated a number of pundits and scholars of various
kingdoms in debate and won these bracelets. Now, | want to face the
scholars of your court. If | win, you would give me a gold bracelet as a
reward. And If | loose, all my bracelets will be yours.”
The Emperor listened to him with keen interest and then called
Birbal. Birbal stood before the Pundit ready for the debate.
The Pundit’s first question was, “Usually, one’s brain lies in one’s
head. But sometimes, it seems to leave its place. Why does it happen?”
Birbal thought for a moment and said, “When one grows old.
Again the Pundit questioned, “Shame always lies in the eyes, but
sometimes it changes it place. Why does this happen?”
Birbal replied, “When a person behaves in a shameful manner, his
shame leaves its place.”
The Pundit said, “Now answer my third question. Courage always
lies in ones body. But often it leaves the body and goes elsewhere.
When does it happen?”
Birbal answered, “When a person is afraid of something, his
courage leaves its right place.”
Then, the Pundit asked, “Now, here is the final question! Strength
lies in a person’s body but when does it leave its abode?”
“When a person becomes old, his strength deserts him.” Birbal
replied.
The Pundit had to accept his defeat before Birbal’s wise answers.
He removed all his bracelets in the court and left the kingdom.
OQ
133
 THE EXCEPTIONAL JEWEL
A person named Vivekchand lived in the city of Delhi. He was expert in
cheating people and extracting money from them. Once, a merchant
named Goojarmal was duped by Vivekchand. Vivekchand made him a
victim of several vices and drugs. He frittered away his money on drinks
and drugs. Soon Goojarmal became sick and turned into a pauper.

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Vivekchand’s brother Sohanchand knew all this. Therefore, fearing

that sooner or later, Sohanchand will complain against him in the
Emperor's court, Vivekchand decided to get rid of him. One day,
he
invited Sohanchand for lunch and then accused him of Stealing
a ruby
134
from his house, worth twenty thousand rupees. He also bribed four men
to give evidence against Sohanchand in the court. _
When he appealed for justice, Birbal called all of them and the
investigation began. Birbal called the first witness to the court room. He
was a cobbler. Birbal asked him, “Tell me, what was the size of the
ruby?” The cobbler had never seen a ruby in his life. He said, “Maharaj,
the ruby was shiny and was as big as my shoe.” |
Birbal smiled at his reply. Then he called another witness inside the
court. The second witness was a tailor. Birbal asked him, “Tell me, how
big was the ruby that was stolen?”
But, even the tailor had no idea what a ruby looked like! He thought
for a moment and said, “Maharaj, it was blue in colour and of the size
of a spindle.”
Now, it was clear to Birbal that all those were fake witnesses. Then
he called the third witness. He was a barber. When Birbal questioned
him about the size of the ruby, he was quite confused. He said,
“Maharaj, the ruby was as big as my head.”
Birbal smiled and sent for the fourth witness. He was a carpenter.
When he was asked to describe the size of the stolen ruby he replied,
“Maharaj, the ruby was quite big, about the size of my head!”
Hearing this, Birbal could not control his laughter. He reprimanded
all the four witnesses and gave them a punishment of ten lashes each.
He threatened them to either speak out the truth or face more
punishment. The four witnesses were frightened and confessed their
guilt. They said that they had never seen a ruby all their life. They were
bribed by Vivekchand to give false witness against Sohanchand.
Accordingly, Sohanchand was honourably sent back home and
Vivekchand was locked in prison.
OU

135
 74
LIFE IS MOST DEAR
Once, Birbal and Emperor Akbar were chatting as usual. The Emperor
said, “Birbal! What is it that is most dear to every person?” Birbal said,
“Your Majesty, life is most dear to each and every living being.”
“Can you prove it?” asked the Emperor.
“Yes, | can,’ replied Birbal.
After some days, Birbal brought a small baby of monkey along with
its mother in the palace.

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There was a large tank in the middle of the palace garden. Birbal
ordered the servants to empty the tank. He told them to erect a long
pole in the centre of the tank. Afterwards, he left the monkey and
its
baby in the tank and asked the servants to fill water in the tank slowly.
136
 The Emperor watched all this with interest. As the water level began
rising, the monkey climbed up higher on the pole with her baby
clutching its body.
At last the water level rose so high that it reached the monkev’s
waist. The monkey lifted her baby up in her hands and stood up on the
top of pole for safety.
The Emperor saw all this and exclaimed, “Look Birbal! How she is
trying to save her baby! It means that her child is more dear to her than
her own life!”
Meanwhile, the water level rose to her neck. The water started
entering her nose and ears. It seemed as if she feared that she would
drown.
The monkey looked around for a while and then placed her baby
under her feet. She then stood upon her baby and started trying to
come out of the water.
“Now see, Your Majesty! To save ner own life, she did not care for
her baby. She placed her baby under her feet and saved her own life.
Doesn't this prove that one’s life is most dear to everyone?”
The Emperor was shocked beyond words to comment. He simply
said, “Birbal, what you Say is true. Life is certainly most dear of all.”
Birbal smiled and ordered the servants to bring down the water
level in the tank and rescue the monkey and its baby.
OQ

137
 75
THE REVENGE
Once, the Qazi of the Emperor's court who was jealous of Birbal’s fame,
decided to get rid of him. He went to a nearby town and there, he learnt
the art of disguise under an expert guidance. After sometime he
became so popular that even Emperor Akbar called him to the court.
In his disguise of a mimic, he came to the court and said, “Your
Majesty! | can perform a lion’s act very well. But, for the realistic effect,
| will be needing a man whom | shall attack. However, if that man loses
his life in my act of ferocity as a lion, | should be excused and let free.”
The Emperor agreed to his condition. But, Birbal became
suspicious. He sent his spies after the newly arrived mimic to find the
truth. The spies informed Birbal that the mimic was of a doubtful
- character.
The next day, the court was full with courtiers and guests. Suddenly,
the mimic in disguise of a lion entered roaring furiously. The mimic had
put on the act of a ferocious lion so beautifully that some of the courtiers
were almost frightened to death. For some time, the mimic kept moving
around in the court area and then suddenly he pounced upon Birbal.
Birbal pretended to be scared and screamed loudly. However, the
mimic started clawing at Birbal’s body violently with his artificial claws.
Birbal’s clothes were torn into shreds. But as Birbal had worn an iron
armour all over his body, the mimic could not injure him. |
The Emperor was pleased with mimic’s terrific performance. He
asked Birbal, “Birbal, you had a better experience of the mimic’s show
than anyone present in the court. Tell me what reward should | give
him.”
“Your Majesty, his show was unique. So no reward will be sufficient
for such an exclusive art. Yet, if the mimic puts up an act of a ‘sati’ and
138
perform excellently, | would request you to appoint him a senior minister
in the court.”
The Qazi was very happy. He thought, the disguise of a ‘sati’ vvas
very easy to perform. Then, after he becomes a minister, his dreain of
underrating Birbal’s status will become very easy.
The next day, the mimic came in the disguise of a sati, about to
enter the pyre of her dead husband. Long hair loose, kumkum over
forehead, marigold garland around his neck walking slowly, he looked
exactly like a ‘sati’. Everyone present there was quite impressed by this
perfect disguise.
But, Birbal said, “Your Majesty, unless the mimic actually sits on the
burning pyre the act is incomplete and unrealistic. See, | have already
arranged a pyre nearby.”
The Qazi was scared to learn that a pyre had been prepared for
him. But now if he retreated, the Emperor would punish him severely.
He thought to himself that it was better to face death with dignity
rather than to live shamefully. He climbed the pyre and was burnt to
death.
The Emperor was very angry with Birbal and said, “Birbal, what
have you done!”
Then Birbal narrated to the Emperor the mimic’s reality, and said,
“Your Majesty, in order to give his disguise a realistic touch, if he would
have killed me, would you have been pleased?”
The Emperor praised Birbal’s intelligence.
OQ

139
 76
THE THREE STATUES
THe fame of Birbal’s wit and wisdom had spread all over the world. The
king of Iran thought of testing Birbal’s wisdom and intelligence, when he
heard about him.
So he sent three statues, of identical shape, size and colour to
Emperor Akbar along with a message—These are three identical
statues. The test lies in identifying—the best, the one that is fairly good
and the one that is the worst. Please arrange to get them identified
according to their aforesaid merits and send them to me with slips
attached, stating their status. In case of failure to meet the challenge,
you are expected to accept your defeat. |
This was certainly a challenge. The statues were surprisingly
identical in each and every respect to the minutest details. Now, to find
out which one was the best and which the worst was near impossible.
All the courtiers were quite amused. The Emperor was also worried.
Finally, he sent for Birbal and told him about the strange message.
Birbal examined the statues and said, “Your Majesty, | will give the
answer tomorrow.”
The next day, Birbal came with three slips which read ‘best’, ‘fair’
and ‘worst’. The Emperor was quite amused and asked, “Tell us, how
did you find out the best, fair and the worst of the three?”
“Your Majesty, | carefully examined the three statues, | found each
statue had a minute hole in the inner side of the left ear!” Birbal
explained.
“Well! What did you do further?” The Emperor asked curiously.
“Then, | passed a thin wire through the hole. In the first statue, the
wire came out of its mouth. In the second, the wire came out of its other
ear. But in the case of the third one the wire went right into the stomach
140
and stopped there.
It suggests that the first statue was the worst, the second one was
fair and the third one was the best of the three.” Birbal replied.
“But, how can a piece of wire signify the value of the statues”, asked
the Emperor.
All the courtiers too seemed utterly confused. Then Birbal
explained, “See gentlemen, this wire has come out of the first statue’s
mouth. This means, a person who keeps on talking is a foolish person.
Such people never keep anything to themselves, they are the worst of
all. Now talking about the second statue-the people who hear
something with one ear and let it out through another, are depicted by
this second statue. These people don’t enjoy the criticism of others.
They are fairly good people. The third statue is the best of all! The wire
did not come out of it. This means that such people listen to others and
digest whatever they hear, but never divulge it to anyone. All this
signifies that though all people may appear the same, their quality
depends upon their character and behaviour!”
‘Very true!” the courtiers exclaimed. The Emperor said, “Yes,
indeed! Birbal, | certainly respect you for your commendable
knowledge of human behaviour.”
Then, the statues were sent back to the King of Iran along with the
slips of ‘best’, ‘fair and ‘worst’. The King of Iran wrote a letter of
appreciation to Emperor Akbar. He also praised Birbal open-heartedly
and sent a golden statue to Birbal as reward.
OO

141
 7
THE BAG OF GOLD COINS
A Muslim widow who lived in the city of Delhi, once decided to go to
Mecca on a pilgrimage. She sold all her valuables and got gold coins in
return. Then, she kept all those coins in a bag and sealed it’s mouth
tightly.
Before leaving she went to the city-Qazi and handing over her bag
to him, said, “Qazi, |am leaving for Mecca on a pilgrimage. | will take my
bag from you, when | come back. However, if | fail to return and die
there, please distribute my money amongst the needy and poor.”
Several weeks passed, yet there were no signs of the widow. The
Qazi could not resist his curiosity. He cut a small hole in the bag. He
saw through the hole and found gold coins lying in it. The Qazi was so
tempted that he took out all the coins and filled the bag with stones.
Then he had the hole darned carefully and put it back.
After a few weeks, the widow returned from pilgrimage. The Qazi
returned her bag. She took her bag happily and thanked the Qazi; but
at home, when she removed the seal, she was shocked. The bag was
full of stones instead of gold coins! She could not believe her eyes and
went back to the Qazi. She began to weep and said, “Oh sir! At least
give me back half the gold coins you have taken from my bag.”
But the Qazi denied having any knowledge of gold coins in the bag.
But when she insisted, he began scolding her and threatened to put her
in prison. The helpless widow went to the Emperor's court for justice.
The Emperor sent for the Qazi and made an enquiry. The Qazi said, “I
returned her the bag intact in the sealed condition, as she had given
me.
The Emperor then asked the widow, “Tell me, is it true that you got
your bag in the same sealed condition?”
142
 The widow said, “Yes, indeed, your Majesty. The bag was sealed
but there were stones inside. | am a poor old woman. Why should | tell
a lie?”
The Emperor now understood that there was something fishy in the
case. He asked for the bag. He carefully examined it. Then he asked the
widow to come back after ten days.
The Emperor then thought of a clever plan. He secretly cut a small
piece of his bedcover. In the morning when the servants noticed the cut
in the bedcover. They were quite surprised. They called the famous
darner of the city and had the bedcover darned.
At night, the Emperor noticed that the bedcover had been darned
carefully. It must have been an expert’s job. It was done so artistically
that itwas rather impossible to know where the bedcover had been cut.
The Emperor at once sent for his servant and asked, “In the morning,
there was a hole in the bedcover. Where has it disappeared now?”
The servant was frightened. He told the truth to the Emperor. The
Emperor sent for the darner. When the darner came the Emperor asked
him, “Tell me, had you darned a small bag some days ago?”
The darner replied, “Yes, Your Majesty, the Qazi had come to me to
get a bag of money darned. The bag was full of small stones and had
a hole.”
The Emperor immediately, called the widow and the Qazi. The Qazi
was frightened to see the darner. He confessed his crime and returned
all the gold coins to the widow. The Emperor removed the Qazi from his
post and ordered a punishment of ten lashes to him.
OU

143
 78
THE WAY TO HEAVEN
Atmost every courtier in the court of Emperor Akbar was jealous of
Birbal and looked for an opportunity to get rid of him. Although every
time they had met with failure in their attempts but their determination
to eliminate Birbal was still strong. Once again they made a clever plot
to kill Birbal. A barber named Nasim was in the Emperor’s good books.
All these courtiers decided to use barber Nasim for this purpose.
Accordingly, they explained to him everything about their plan.
One day, while shaving the Emperor’s beard, the barber said,
“Today, | remembered your father. He used to be so happy with my
work. | worked for him for twenty years, yet he never got angry with me.
Several years have passed since his death. Why don’t you enquire
about his well being?”
The Emperor said, “How is it possible to make enquiries about the
dead? Can we send a messenger to the heaven?”
“Yes, Your Majesty, | am sure Birbal can do this job. | have heard that
Brahmins go to heaven and come back by the power of Yoga. | will tell
you the method. A pyre should be lit in the cremation ground. Birbal
should be made to sit upon it and ‘mantras’ recited. Birbal will slowly
ascend to the heaven along with the smoke and fumes. Maharaj,
please send Birbal to the heaven to find out the well-being of your
father. At any cost whatsoever, you should do this; it is my sincere
request.”
Accordingly, the Emperor told all this to Birbal. Birbal demanded
fifty thousand gold coins for this job and asked for a time gap of three
months. During this period, Birbal secretly dug an underground tunnel
from the cremation ground up to a nearby hill.
At the end of three months, Birbal went to the Emperor and informed
144 AKBAR BIRBAL STORIES—9
him of his readiness to go to Heaven. As expected, the pyre was
arranged just above the mouth of the tunnel. In the final show, Birbal lay
upon the pyre in the presence of the Emperor and other courtiers.
The pyre was lit. But, Birbal had in advance arranged for damp logs
so that the wood for the pyre should be moist. Therefore, a lot of smoke
came out when the pyre was put to fire. The smoke caused irritation into
the eyes of those watching the funeral. All began rubbing their eyes.
Birbal in the meantime, secretly escaped through the tunnel.
The jealous courtiers and the barber were very happy that
somehow they could manage to eliminate Birbal.
After several days, when it was raining heavily Birbal came to the
court in strange looking clothes. When the Emperor learnt that Birbal
had returned, he at once went to receive him with honour and respect.
He asked Birbal about his journey both ways and the well-being of his
father.
Then Birbal said, “Maharaj, heaven is certainly a magnificent place!
How sweet was the weather there! Enjoying, the comfort in that
heavenly abode, | felt like not coming back to this land of death. But, for
your father’s strong insistence, | had to leave and come back here. He
is facing one problem in the heaven. Your barber Karim’s father is there.
He shaves your father very skillfully. But your father cannot bear his
ways of working. He always remembers Karim. He has asked me to
send a good barber up in the heaven. Therefore, | would suggest to you
to arrange a pyre in the cremation ground at the place which | have
purified with ‘mantras’ and send Karim to serve your father in the
heaven.”
The Emperor liked Birbal’s idea.
So, Karim was taken to the cremation ground with great show and
festivity. He was made to squat on the pyre and the pyre was lit. Within
a short time, Karim was burnt to death.
Birbal’s rivals were so terrified by this incident that they did not dare
to harm him again.
OO
145
 its,
THE SINGING FAKIR
Once an unknown fakir (saint) came wandering to the Emperor's palace
and sat on the parapet. He was praying and singing. Hours passed, but
he showed no signs of leaving the place. The servants asked him to
leave the palace but he did not listen to them. Since he was a fakir, it
was not possible to apply force to drive him out of the palace. The
servants were thinking of how to get rid of him. In the meantime, the
Emperor arrived in the palace and politely requested the fakir, “Oh holy
sir! This is a palace and not a dharamshala. You are mistaken if you
think that you can sit anywhere you think suitable and start meditating.”
The fakir looked at the Emperor and asked coolly, “Your Majesty,
who occupied this palace before you?”
“First it was my grand father,’ Emperor Akbar replied. “Afterwards
my father occupied this palace and now | live here. And after me, by
God’s grace, my sons, and my grand sons too will stay here.”
“Hmm, so!” the fakir exclaimed. “This means one person comes
and the other goes. Then isn’t this a dharamshala? This world too is like
a dharamshala. We all are like guests. We stay here for a while and then
go away. After that other people arrive in this world to stay. So, it is quite
meaningless to say that this is my house and that is yours! You are
foolish indeed to boast that this is your palace!”
The Emperor was speechless with the fakir’s explanation. The fakir
was really very knowledgeable. Just then the fakir removed his false
beard and disguise. In fact, it was Birbal in the guise of a fakir. The
Emperor was very pleased with Birbal and praised him open heartedly.
OO
 80
WHAT IS IN THE MIND?
Once, the Emperor made an announcement, “I want to know if there is
anyone who can read the thoughts of others; if there is someone who
can do it, he will get a reward of ten thousand gold coins.”
Immediately, well known astrologers and fortune-tellers from all
over the country started heading towards the court of Akbar to get the
reward. But the courtiers would not allow them to win it. Whenever a
contestant would tell exactly what the other person was thinking about,
the person concerned would deny, saying that he was thinking of
something else.
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Finally, a poor Brahmin reached Delhi from a far off part of the
country. He was an expert in reading other people’s mind. But when he
arrived in Delhi, he learnt that the courtiers were cunningly denying the
truth. He decided to take Birbal’s help in the matter.
147
 Birbal, before giving any advice to the Brahmin, tested his
knowledge and skill. Then he said to him, “I shall give you an idea.”
The Brahmin carefully listened to Birbal’s advice. Then he came to
the court and told the Emperor the purpose of his visit to the court. The
Emperor pointing towards a courtier asked, “Tell me, what is this person
thinking about at this moment?”
The Brahmin smiled and said, “Why only this person?, Should | tell
you what every individual in this court is thinking about? And there is
one single answer.”
The Emperor thought that the Brahmin was trying to be very smart.
He decided to teach him a lesson, “Tell me every person’s thought in a
single answer,” said the Emperor. “However, if your answer turns out to
be wrong, | shall put you in the prison!”
The Brahmin smiled and replied, “Agreed, Your Majesty. In this
court every courtier has just one thought in his mind, and that is, long
live the Emperor and let his kingdom go on prospering for ever. You may
ask the courtiers whether what | say is right or wrong!”
Now, which courtier had the courage to say that what the Brahmin
said was not true? The Emperor too was very pleased with the
Brahmin’s clever answer. He put another question to the Brahmin. “Now
tell me what am | thinking?”
The Brahmin replied, “His Majesty is thinking that all his ancestors
should attain heaven.”
The Emperor was very happy to hear this. He gave the Brahmin a
reward of ten thousand gold coins.
a

148
 81
DARK BELOW THE LAMP
Once, the Emperor and Birbal were sitting in the palace balcony and
watching the sunrise. The sunrays falling on the sparkling waters of the
Yamuna river gave it a golden sheen. The Emperor used to watch this
natural beauty everyday. Today, Birbal too was watching this natural
beauty along with the Emperor.
Suddenly, their attention was diverted due to a loud noise. They
noticed some thieves running after looting some travellers. The poor
travellers were crying in grief.
The Emperor ordered his guards to catch the thieves but the thieves
had already disappeared. The guards returned empty handed.
The Emperor was furious to see the soldiers coming back empty
handed. Nothing could have been worse than the incapability of the
royal guards in capturing the thieves who had robbed the passers-by
near the palace itself.
The Emperor was terribly frustrated at this. He asked Birbal, “Birbal,
all this has happened because our administration is not efficient. Isn't
it a matter of shame? A common man is being robbed in front of the
Emperor and the Emperor is incapable of doing anything in this regard;
why is it so?”
Birbal said, “Your Majesty, though a lamp spreads light all around,
but it is always dark under the lamp.”
The Emperor was very much pleased with Birbal’s reply. He
compensated the travellers by giving them money and clothes etc. He
also sent armed guards to escort them to their homes safely.
OQ
 82
DOUBLE LOSS
A poor woman had somehow managed to save a small amount from
her hard-earned money so that it might come to her use in her old age.
A few years later, some people of the town decided to go on a
pilgrimage. The woman too decided to join them.
But she became worried about the money, she had saved for so
many years. It was not advisable to carry it along on the pilgrimage.
There lived a hermit in that town. The woman was sure that her
money would be safe in the hands of such a holy man. So she went and
told him of her problem. The hermit listened to her and said, “Oh lady!
Why are you trying to bind me in such worldly things? You make your
own arrangements.”
The hermit’s arguments made the woman even more certain that
she had come to the right man. The next day, she went to the hermit
with the money.
The hermit humbly declined to keep the money with him. He said,
“| won't even touch your money. You may bury the pot with your own
hands in that corner.”
The woman carefully dug a hole in one corner of the ashram and
buried the pot. Then she went on the pilgrimage peacefully. After a few
weeks, she returned to the town. She came to the hermit and asked for
her money. The hermit said, “I have no business with your money. You
may take it yourself!”
The woman went to that corner of the ashram and started digging
on the spot. But, she was shocked not to find the pot there. She could
not believe that all her hard-earned money had vanished. She was lost
in deep grief.
However, she could not even tell about the loss to the hermit. The
hermit had, right from the elias) warned her that he was not at all
concerned with her wealth. The poor woman went back home very sad
and unhappy.
However, after much thinking she went to Birbal and told him the
whole story. Birbal listened to her carefully and asked her to come the
next day.
Meanwhile, Birbal gave a casket of jewels to one of his servants
and said, “You go to that hermit and tell him that these jewels belong to
your brother who has gone abroad. He will be coming after three-four
days. But, as you had an urgent work, you would be obliged to go
elsewhere. In the end, you request him to keep these gems with him.”
Afterwards, Birbal sent for the woman and said to her, “Wien you
find my messenger and the hermit busy in talking, enter his hut and
demand your money from him.”
As instructed by Birbal, the servant went to the hermit alongwith the
casket of jewels and narrated to him the whole story. At first, the hermit
refused to keep the jewels with him. He put on several acts of refusals
-and unwillingness. Just then, as decided earlier, the woman reached
there and asked for her money. The hermit on seeing her feared that if
the servant comes to know about her story, he will certainly lose the
gems casket. So he politely spoke to the woman, “Oh sister! It’s good
that you have come. You forgot the spot where you had buried the pot,
and blamed me for nothing.”
The woman was Surprised to see the hermits changed behaviour
towards her. The hermit further said, “Please look for the money at the
right place!” and pointed towards a stone.
The woman quickly started digging at the place. She took the
money and went to Birbal directly. When Birbal saw that the woman had
secured her lost money, he sent another messenger to the hermit. The
messenger at once ran to the hermit’s hut and said to the first
messenger, “Listen, your brother has suddenly come back from abroad
and wants to see you!”
“Oh! so my worry is over!” said the first messenger and lifting the
casket of jewels rushed out of the hut.
OO
151
 83
THE UNLUCKY FACE
THeRrE lived a poor Brahmin in the city of Delhi. The people had a notion
about him that if anyone saw his face in the morning, his entire day
would be unlucky. Even some inauspicious event would occur.
When the Emperor learnt about the notion of the people, he
decided to find the truth himself. One night, he made that Brahmin
sleep in his bedroom and saw the Brahmin’s face first in the morning.
Till noon, everything went fine, but in the afternoon, as he sat for lunch,
by sheer coincidence, a lizard fell from the ceiling in his plate. The
Emperor then got up and said, “Damn it! | saw that unlucky face of the
Brahmin and my food is spoiled!”

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The Emperor held his court and said, “Hang this Brahmin to death
tomorrow- morning.”
152
 When Birbal learnt about the Emperor's judgement about the
Brahmin, he made a plan not only to save him from the gallows but also
to bring an end to his poverty.
Birbal met the Brahmin in the prison and said to him, “Be‘ore
hanging you, they will ask you your last wish. You speak to them as | tell
you.” Then he told him what to say.
The next morning, when the Brahmin was being taken to be
hanged, the officers as usual asked him, “What is your last wish?”
The Brahmin replied calmly, “Weill, | want to give an advice to the
people. The Emperor saw my face, the first thing in the morning and
had to-forego his lunch. But when | saw the Emperor’s face, the first
thing in the morning, | have to lose my life. | have been brought to
gallows. Therefore, it is my good advice to everyone never to see the
Emperor's face early in the morning, otherwise you too will have to lose
your life.” |
The officers were astonished. However, it was necessary for them
to tell the Emperor about the Brahmin’s last wish. The Emperor was
furious to Know about his last wish. He ordered the officers to bring the
Brahmin to him.
As soon as the Brahmin was brought before him, the Emperor said,
“Tell me, who told you to speak like this? | am sure it must have been
Birbal and none else. Since Birbal has tried to save your life, my orders
must certainly be unjust. Go, you are free now.”
Then, the Emperor sent for the treasurer and presented the
Brahmin with riches and property.
OU

153
 | 84
MEASURE FOR MEASURE
THE winter was about to come to an end. The rays of the sun were
becoming warmer and sharper. The entire atmosphere was pleasant. It
was at this time, that the Emperor and Birbal started on their horses for
watching the nature's beauty.
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Seeing the nature’s glory, the Emperor exclaimed, “Bhai Ask Pedar
Shumast (Shuma Hast)” These words had two different meanings. The
first in Persian was, “This horse belongs to your father.” and the second
was, ‘This horse is your father.”
Birbal at once understood what the Emperor meant to say. He
replied, “Dad-e-Huzoorast” which meant, “It is given by Huzoor’ or “It is
Huzoor’s master.”
The Emperor was speechless. Birbal had given a tit for tat reply.

154 OO
 85
THE GREATEST OF ALL
: Once the Emperor asked in his court, “Who is the greatest of all in
| this world?” |
. Thinking that the Emperor wanted himself to be regarded as the
| greatest of all, some of his courtiers said, “No doubt, our great Emperor
| is the greatest of all!”
| Birbal replied, “Your Majesty, | personally feel that a baby is greater
| than Emperor Akbar!”
| Hearing this, the Emperor as well as the other courtiers laughed
| heartily.
| But Birbal said politely, “I shall prove this within a day or two.”
Two days later, Birbal came to the court along with a cute little baby.
Who would not like such a cute baby? The Emperor lifted the baby
affectionately and took it in his lap. The baby was very playful. After
/ sometime, the baby started pulling the Emperor’s moustache. Then it
started pulling his clothes. Some time later, it kicked the Emperor.
The Emperor, quite amused with the child’s activity, said to Birbal,
“See Birbal, how this baby is behaving?”
“Your Majesty, then such a child must be severely punished,” Birbal
said.
| The Emperor said, “No, How can you say that? It is an innocent
child? How can you punish a child for its innocence?”
Birbal said, “Your Majesty, This is what | meant to say the other day.
Even elder people don’t dare to touch you. But this baby pulled your
moustaches and kicked you. Yet you cannot punish it. This goes to
prove my point that a baby is the greatest of all.”
The Emperor was very pleased with Birbal’s answer.
OU
 86
THE FOUR THINGS
Arter, the consistent pestering and insistence by the Empress got the
better of the Emperer, he appointed one of her brothers the minister for
a few days to look after the duties which were hitherto taken care of by
Birbal.
After a few days the Emperor asked the Queen’s brother, “Bring me
‘four things—'Taste, ‘Life-giving substance’, ‘Traitor & ‘Loyalty’ within a
week.”
The Queen’s brother started looking for those four things but he
couldn't find even one of the things to show to the Emperor. He became
worried and met his sister, the queen, and told her his problem. She too
thought a lot but was unable to find a solution to his problem. Then she
said, “Look, go to Birbal and seek his help!”

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4
 He went to Birbal. Birbal listened to his problem and said, “I will
bring all the four things to you. But you will have to give me forty
thousand rupees.”
The Queen’s brother at once gave forty thousand rupees to Birbal
and asked for the things.
Birbal gave two small boxes to the Queen’s brother and said, “Look
one of these boxes contains ‘taste’ and the other one contains ‘life-
giving substance’. However, for the remaining two things, you request
the Emperor to call me. Only then, you can get the other two things.”
The next day, the Queen’s brother went to the court along with the
two boxes. He placed the boxes before the Emperor and said, “Your
Majesty, one of these boxes contains ‘taste’ and the other contains ‘life-
giving substance’.
“And what about the remaining two things?” the Emperor said.
“They are with Birbal.” replied the Queen’s brother.
The Emperor at once sent for Birbal. Birbal came to the court along
with a dog.
Seeing Birbal the Emperor questioned, “Where are the remaining
two things-‘loyalty’ and ‘traitor’?”
Birbal said, “Your Majesty, here they are. This dog Is ‘loyalty’. Even
if you give him a dry loaf of bread, he will remain loyal to you.”
“All right,’ the Emperor said, “now where is the ‘traitor’?”
“Your Majesty, your son-in-law is the fourth thing.” Birbal said, “He
is the living example of a ‘traitor’. No matter what you do for him, he will
keep complaining. He is never grateful and is never satisfied.”
The Emperor said, “Agreed. Now tell us about these boxes.”
“Your Majesty, one of these boxes contains salt. Without it, all kinds
of foods will be tasteless. The second one contains water, the Nectar of
life. Existence without water is beyond imagination, Birbal replied.
The Emperor was very pleased with Birbal’s explanation. He
immediately removed Sheikh Hussain from the post of Wazir and
appointed Birbal the Wazir once again.
OO
457
 87
THE REAL OWNER
AxBarR was a great Emperor. He had several subsidiary Kings ruling
under his power. Once, one such king thought of meeting Birbal. He
wanted to know how clever he really was as he had heard a lot about
him from other people.
Therefore, the King disguised himself as a farmer, sat on a horse
and started for Delhi.

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After reaching the outskirts of the city, the King came across a lame
man, who was requesting the passers-by, “Sir, |am lame. | want to go
to Delhi. Have pity on me. God will bless you if you kindly allow me to
ride pillon on your horse.”
The king felt sorry to see him in such a pitiable condition. He got
down from his horse; helped the lame-man take his seat instead. When
the lame man had sat properly sails horse, the King took the reins in
his hand and started leading the horse on foot.
When they reached Delhi, the King said to the lame-man, “We’ve
reached Delhi. Now please get down from the horse and go where you
want.”
The lame-man very surprisingly refused to get down. Instead he
Started shouting angrily, “How dare you! You seem to be a wicked
person! | hire’d you to guide me upto Delhi. And now, you are asking me
to get down from my horse?”
The king was astonished. He didn’t know what to do.
Seeing him silent, the lame man shouted again, “Aren’t you
ashamed? You want to take advantage of my handicap and take away
my horse!”
Once again, the King requested him to to get down from the horse
and go away. But, instead, the lame man again started to shout at him.
Both claimed the ownership of the horse. Finally, they went to the
Emperor's court for justice.
The Emperor asked Birbal to solve the case.
Birbal listened to both of them carefully and asked a servant to tie
the horse in the royal stable. Then he asked the lame man and the
farmer to meet him the next day.
The next morning, when they arrived, Birbal took them to the stable.
There were several horses in a row.
Birbal first asked the lame man to identify his horse. But the lame
man failed to identify the horse and walked out of the stable.
Then, Birbal asked the King, in disguise of a farmer, to identify his
horse. The king at once recognised his horse. The horse also neighed
at the sight of his master.
He gave the horse back to the King and punished the lame man for
cheating.
The king in disguise was extremely pleased to see Birbal’s
intelligence. He disclosed his real identify and told Emperor Akbar that
he had come all the way to test the intelligence of Birbal. He said, “| am
really impressed by his intelligence and presence of mind. He really is
a gem.”
Emperor Akbar became very happy and received the king with due
honour.
apo
159
 88
THE GOAT’S WEIGHT
Once, the Emperor was very unhappy with Birbal. He banned Birbal’s
entry in the court. So, Birbal went to a neighbouring village for some
days.
However, the Emperor could not bear Birbal’s absence for long. He
launched a massive search for him, but he was not to be found
anywhere. The Emperor thought much. Finally, he hit upon an idea and
decided to materialise his plan the next day.

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He sent for the chiefs of all the villages, the next day. When they
came, he gave them one goat each after weighing the goats. He said,
“lam giving you one goat each. Take the goat along with you. You must
come to the court along with your goat, after one month. But, take care
160 AKBAR BIRBAL STORIES—10
to see that even after one month, the goat’s weight must remain the
same. | am giving hundred gold coins to each of you to look after the
goats. Slightest variation in the weight of the goat will make you liable
to get punishment.”
All the chiefs returned to their villages carrying the goats. But, every
village chief was worried. How was it possible to keep the weight of the
goat consistent throughout the month?
After completion of one month all the village chiefs presented
themselves in the court along with their goats. In nearly all the cases
the goat’s weighed more or less than the initial weight.
Only the goat of one village chief had remained the same.
Seeing this the Emperor called the chief and asked him, “Tell me,
how were you able to keep the weight of your goat in check? What did
you do?”
He replied, “Your Majesty, during the daytime, | used to feed the
goat with a lot of grass. But in the night, | used to tie her in front of a
tiger.”
The Emperor said, “All right. But who told you to do this?”
“For the last few days, a stranger has been staying in our village.
When he saw me worried, he asked me the reason. | explained to him
my problem, telling him that slightest variation in the weight of the goat
would subject me to severe punishment. Your Majesty, he is so
intelligent that within no time he came out with the solution that has
saved me from punishment,’ the chief said:
“Ah, at last! I've found Birbal’ The Emperor cried happily.
Immediately, he sent his guards to bring Birbal back to the court.
Birbal came to the court and once again, the court became as colourful
and as interesting as before. ’
OO

161 AKBAR BIRBAL STORIES—11

 89
FOUR IDIOTS
Once the Emperor was in a very cheerful mood. He said to Birbal,
“Birbal, show me four idiots, each a bigger idiot than the other.”
“All right,” Birbal replied. He saw a man carrying a tray covered with
a sheet of cloth. He was was walking so fast that he seemed to be ina
great hurry. Birbal asked him, “What is there in the tray and where are
you going so much in a hurry?”
But, the man continued walking. Birbal repeated his question. The
man said, “Sir, my wife divorced me and married another man two years
ago. She gave birth to a child last year. Today, is the baby’s birthday
ceremony. Therefore, | am taking this tray of sweets for the ceremony.”
Birbal thought to himself, ‘| have at least found the first idiot’.
Further ahead, Birbal saw a man riding a horse. The man had
placed a pile of woods upon his head. Birbal was surprised to see his
idiocy. He said, “What is this?”
The man said, “Sir, this is my pet mare. She is already carrying my
load, and in order to save her from overloading | am carrying this pile
of wood upon my own head.”
Birbal took him also along with him. Then the three went to the royal
court. There, Birbal said to the Emperor, “Your Majesty, here are two
idiots.”
The Emperor said, “All right, but where are the other two idiots?”
“They are very much here itself,” Birbal said. “What do you mean?”
The Emperor asked for an explanation.
“It's very simple, Your Majesty. Isn’t it foolish of me wasting my time
in search of idiots. So | am the third idiot.”
“And the fourth one?” the Emperor asked curiously. Birbal said, “|
am afraid, Your Majesty, but you are supposed to be the fourth one,
because it was you who asked me to go in search of idiots.”
OO
162
 90
THE SAME THING
THe Emperor did not like staying in Surat. But, often he had to go there
for some administrative purposes. Now it was Birbal who had to provide
the Emperor with some kind of recreation everyday to keep him in a
jovial mood.
One day, the Emperor asked Birbal to put some act. Birbal listened
to his wish and went away. Then he dressed himself shabbily and took
a donkey along with him. Making the sound of ‘Tik, Tik’, he started
leading his donkey on the same path on which the Emperor was going.

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Seeing a donkey owner coming from the opposite direction with his
donkey, the Emperor became furious and said, “Why don't you walk on
one side of the road with your donkey?”
Birbal laughed and said, “I am telling my donkey the same thing. |
asked it to walk properly, as another donkey is coming from the
opposite direction.”
The Emperor stared hard at the donkey owner and moved ahead
without speaking a single word.
OO)
 91
THE REFLECTION OF THE MONEY
One day, a poor Brahmin saw a dream. In the dream he saw that he
borrowed one thousand rupees from one of his friends.
When the Brahmin woke up in the morning, he remembered his
dream and was very much surprised about it. He discussed it with his
friends.

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The friend who had appeared in his dream also learnt about it. The
greed of one thousand rupees got the better of him. He knew that the
Brahmin was very simple and innocent. So, he decided to take
advantage of the situation.
He went to the Brahmin and said, “Give me back those
one
thousand rupees that you had borrowed from me!”
164
 First the brahmin thought that his friend was probably joking. But,
when the matter came to the extent of exchange of blows, the Brahmin
got scared.
There was not a single penny in his house. He had to work very
hard to earn his two time meals. One thousand rupees was, an amount
beyond imagination for him.
The friend thought, the Brahmin would give him the money simply
out of fear, but he was mistaken. No such thing happened. Then the
friend threatened the Brahmin that he would take the matter to the
court.
The next day, the friend lodged a complaint against the Brahmin
and pleaded in the court to get his money back.
The judge listened to both the parties. But he could not make
anything out of it as, the Brahmin had told the witnesses too about his
dream.
Finally, the judge referred the matter to the imperial court.
Then, Emperor Akbar asked Birbal to solve the case. Birbal listened
to both parties and ordered a guard to bring a big mirror in the court.
Thereafter, Birbal took a wad of hundred rupee notes and placed it in
such a way that its reflection could be seen in the mirror.
After having made suitable arrangements. Birbal called the
Brahmin and his friend.
He said to the friend of the Brahmin, “Now, you can take ee one
thousand rupees which you can see in the mirror!”
The Brahmin’s friend asked with surprise, “How is it possible? It is
a mere reflection of the money? You must be joking.”
Birbal said, “Similarly the Brahmin too had borrowed the money
from you in his dream. In fact, the money was neither borrowed nor lent
physically. Then, why is it that you are asking for the real money from
him? If you want you can recover it from him in your dream.”
Hearing this, the friend lowered his head in shame and admitted his
guilt.
OO
165
 92
THE NUMBER OF LAZY MEN
One day, while chatting with Birbal, Emperor Akbar suddenly asked
Birbal, “Birbal, How many lazy men are there in our city?”
There are many, “Your Majesty.”
“Birbal, then we should invite all the lazy people of the city for lunch
tomorrow. In this manner, we shall be able to find their exact number.”
“As you wish, Your Majesty.” Birbal said and went away.
The next day, thousands of people started coming to the palace.
The Emperor was very much surprised to see such a large number of
lazy people coming for lunch. It was certainly beyond his expectation.
He asked Birbal, “Birbal, how can you say that all these men are lazy?
At least, | don’t think so. Let us think of an idea to find out if they are
really lazy.’
“Don’t worry, your Majesty, | shall soon make arrangements to find
out if they are really lazy,’ Birbal said, and then he immediately got a
huge tent erected by the servants. Afterwards, he asked all the invitees
to sit in that tent for lunch.
When all of them had settled, Birbal quietly set the tent on fire.
Seeing the fire, most of the invitees got scared and started running
hither and thither. Soon, the tent was almost empty.
But, still two men were sitting in the tent, lying on the ground. They
were busy chit-chatting with each other. They were too lazy even to get
up and run out of the burning tent.
Birbal, pointing towards them, said to Emperor Akbar, “Your
Majesty, as you can see, only these two men are really lazy!”
The Emperor saw them with amusement and as decided earlier, he
offered them a fine lunch to enjoy.
OO
166
 93
THE WALKING CARROTS
Once, Emperor Akbar received a letter from the King of Lanka. The text
of the letter was—“We want some carrots that can move and walk
about. We would be grateful if you could send us some of these.”
The letter was read aloud in the court. All the courtiers laughed at
the contents of the letter. But, no one was able to tell how that strange
demand could be fulfilled. Carrots grow in the soil underground and are
firmly stuck to the earth. How can the carrots be made to walk and
move about? Finally, as usual, the Emperor referred this strange case
to Birbal. Birbal said, “Do not worry your Majesty. | will see to it!”
Afterwards, he fixed four wooden boards to a bullock-cart in a box-
like manner, so that the cart looked like a big wooden box. Birbal then
brought some black soil and filled the box-like cart with it up to the brim.
Then, he mixed some fertilizers with the soil and sowed carrot seeds.
After a few days, small carrot plants grew in the cart and so carrots
started growing.
Good soil and fertilizers made the carrots grow very soon. Then,
Birbal tied a bullock to the cart and took it to the court.
Birbal smiled and said, “Your Majesty, now you may send this cart
with moving carrots in it directly to Lanka! And tell them, that they may
have aS many movable carrots as they want! Let them see for
themselves.”
The Emperor praised Birbal very much. Then, the carrot carts were
sent to Lanka. After a few days, in return of the carts, the Emperor
received a letter of thanks from the king of Lanka along with some
valuable gifts for him.
OO

167
 94
THE CLEVER THIEVES
In the city of Delhi. There lived an honest merchant. One day, two
thieves came to meet him in the disguise of traders. They introduced
themselves as merchants from China and said to the merchant, “We
have some jewels with us. We shall be extremely grateful to you, if you
kindly manage to sell the items for us.”
The merchant was a very honest person! He was not at all familiar
with the false tacts of business. )
As usual, the merchant said, “Jewels can’t be sold without showing
them to buyers. You leave them with me. | will try to find a suitable buyer
for these jewels.”
The thieves said, “Please keep these valuable jewels with care. You
return it to us only when we come together to take it back.”
The merchant agreed. The two thieves went away. After some time,
one of the thieves came back and asked to return the jewels. The
merchant inquired about his partner. The thief said that his partner was
talking to some one on the corner of the street and that he had come
there on his insistence. The merchant was obliged to give back the
jewels to the thief.
A few hours later, the second thief came to the merchant and asked
for the jewels. The merchant said, “Why? You don’t know that your
friend has taken away the jewels from me. In fact, | inquired from him
about you; but he told me that you were talking to someone on the
corner of the street, and it was on your insistence that he had come to
collect the jewels.”
The second thief became very angry and shouted, “! won't leave
without having my jewels back. Hadn't | warned you that you should
return the jewels only when both of us come together to collect it? How
168
did you give the jewels in my absence? In any case, you must return my
jewels.”
The merchant said politely, “You were just at the corner of the sireet
when your friend came to take back the jewels.” The second thief again
became furious to to hear him say this.
He shouted, “So what? Shouldn’t | even stand on the street?
| hadn’t sent him to collect the jewels.”
A heated argument took place between the thief and the merchant.
The thief was not ready to leave without getting back the jewels. When
he sensed that there was no hope of getting the jewels back, he started
threatening the merchant saying, “Either you return my jewels or pay
the price for its value.”
The merchant said, “Do what you want! Why should | pay for
something that has not been stolen by me.”
Ultimately, the thief went to the Emperor and appealed for justice.
As usual, the Emperor handed the case over to Birbal. Birbal sent for
the merchant and inquired about the facts from him. He soon
understood that the thief was trying to dupe the merchant.
He called the thief and said, “You and your friend, both were
supposed to come together to the merchant to take back your jewels.
Then, where is your friend? Bring your friend if you wish to have your
case solved.”
But, it was not possible for the second thief to bring his friend to the
court. So, he lowered his head and tried to escape from the court.
“Wait!” Birbal shouted, “I give you a punishment of one hundred
lashes for your false appeal to the court.”
OO

169
 95
THE FIRST STEP OF SACRIFICE
Once, the Emperor went for a walk. On his way, he met his brother-in-
law who had run away from his house six months ago.
His brother-in-law said to the Emperor, “Sir, can you give me
tobacco for my pipe?” bs fa }

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The Emperor was surprised as his brother-in-law had abandoned
the habit of taking tobacco. The Emperor said to him, “But long before
you had sworn not to smoke again.”
The Emperor’s brother-in-law laughed and replied, “Yes, Your
Majesty, | am on my first step of sacrifice. These days | have not been
buying tobacco with my money.”
The Emperor smiled at his witty reply.
oe
170
 96
THE EMPEROR’S PARROT
Once a fakir visited the Emperor's court. He had brought a beautiful
parrot with him. He presented it to the Emperor.
The Emperor liked the parrot very much. He engaged a servant
specially to look after the bird.
“Look here”, the Emperor warned him, “take proper care of the bird.
Feed him regularly. Don’t come and tell me that he is ill or he is dead.
If you come to me with a bad news, | shall have your head cut off!”
The servant looked after the bird really well.
Yet, one day the parrot died without any illness.

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The servant was terrified. He thought to himself, ‘If | go and tell the
Emperor that the parrot is dead, | myself will be dead in no time. Even
171
if |don’t inform him now, he is sure to know about it some day. Then also
the punishment would be death. What should | do now?’
He did not know what to do.
Then he went to Birbal and told him what had happened.
Birbal told him not to worry. Then he himself went to the Emperor.
“Your Majesty, your parrot...” Birbal did not complete his sentence.
“My parrot!” exclamied the Emperor. “What happened to him?”
“Nothing special Your Majesty, but he...”
“Tell me at once, Birbal,” the Emperor said impatiently. “Is he dead?”
“No, no, Your Majesty. Your parrot has turned into a great ‘sanyasi’!
He is lying on his back, with his eyes closed, facing the sky.”
“Then why don’t you say that the parrot is dead?” the Emperor
shouted at Birbal.
“You can say that if you like, Your Majesty, but how can |?” answered
Birbal. “Because | feel that he is praying.”
“Let us go and see him,” said the Emperor.
Birbal took him to the parrot’s cage. The Emperor saw that the
parrot was dead.
“Birbal, you are supposed to be very intelligent,” said the Emperor.
“But, | am surprised to see that you aren’t even capable of
distinguishing between a dead and a live parrot. Why didn’t you tell me
that the parrot was dead.”
“How could |, Your Majesty?” replied Birbal. “You would have cut off
my head, had | told you that your pet parrot had died.”
Now the Emperor remembered his words. While giving the
responsibility of the parrot to the servant he had said, “If you come with
a news of the death of the parrot, your head will be chopped off.”
The Emperor smiled.
“Oh, Birbal, you are really clever!” He said.
OU

172
 97
TWO WOMEN
Two women lived in one and the same building in the city of Delhi. Even
though they were quite friendly with each other but there was hardly
anything common in their behaviour.
One of the women was very kind and honest, whereas the other
one was very crooked, ill-tempered and was also a liar. She always
underrated her good neighbour. Yet, the other woman ignored her vices
and never became angry or irritated. That made the crooked woman try
to tease her still more.

One day, the crooked woman got so angry with her son that she
beat him to death. Aftrwards, she realized her terrible mistake and
thought of hiding her son’s dead body. Finally, she lifted her dead son
and stealthily placed his dead body in her neighbour's room.
Then, she went to the Emperor's court and complained that her
173
neighbour had killed her son. Birbal listened to her carefully. Then he
summoned the kind woman and said to her, “This woman has appealed
to the court that you have killed her son. Is this true?”
The kind woman replied quietly, “Your Majesty, someone else has
killed that innocent child and has put the dead body in my house. | know
nothing of it. This is all | have to say, and the rest is in your hands.
Please look into the matter and have a thorough investigation, and get
the real culprit.”
Birbal asked both the women to stay in the court. Then he sent his
guards to gather further information about them. The guards went to
the people of the same locality where these two women lived. The
guards started inquiring and gathering information about these two
women. They learnt that the lady who had been accused of the murder
was in fact very kind and gentle. And the lady who had blamed her was
very wicked and crooked.
When Birbal learnt this, he wove a plan to find out the truth. He
called the kind woman and said, “Remove all your clothes and stand in
that corner, if you have not killed the child.”
The kind woman replied politely, “Your Majesty, | don’t care if | die
today instead of tomorrow. | am not afraid of death as of
shamelessness and disgrace!”
Then, Birbal summoned the wicked woman and said, “If you are
really very sure that this woman has killed your son, you remove all your
clothes and stand in that corner.”
But, to his astonishment the wicked woman started undressing
immediately. Seeing this Birbal became furious and stopped her from
undressing herself. He understood that she was the one who had
mercilessly killed her own son.
She confessed her crime only after she was beaten black and blue.
The Emperor too was very angry with her. He imprisoned her and
released the kind woman with full honour.
at oe

174
 98
BIRBAL IS FOUND
Once, a heated discussion took place between the Emperor and Birbal
over some trifle matter. The Emperor banned Birbal’s entry in the court.
Birbal left Delhi and went to live in some other city.
But, after some time the Emperor began feeling his absence in the
court. He thought of finding out the whereabouts of Birbal. But as it was
not so easy, the Emperor made a careful plan.
He announced in the entire kingdom, “I will give a big reward to a
man who stands neither in shadow nor in sunlight and who has an
insatiable hunger for food.”
The announcement was made in each and every town and village.
Birbal too came to know about this reward. He asked a clever rural man
to go to the court. He also explained to him how to answer the questions
asked by the Emperor.
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Then Birbal gave him a big cot and said, “Place it on your head and
go to the palace, and while going, keep eating some puffed rice grains.
475
Answer every question as per my instructions, when you are in the
court.”
Accordingly, the rural man placed the cot upon his head and went
to the royal palace, in Delhi. Meanwhile, he was eating some nuts and
puffed rice grains. Seeing such a funny man, the guard stopped him.
But when he said that he had corne to take the reward as was
announced by the Emperor, he was allowed to go inside.
He entered the royal court in the same manner. Seeing such a
funny character, the Emperor said, “Who are you?”
“lam aman!” he replied.
“Oh, | see! Then why is it that you are moving about with a cot upon
your head?” the Emperor asked.
He said, “Your Majesty, it was your announcement, that you will
reward a person who is neither in shadow nor in sunlight. So | have
placed a cot upon my head. | am neither in shadow nor under direct
sunlight.”
Then, he stuffed his mouth with puffed rice grains. The Emperor
said, “What is this? Why are you eating in the court?”
He said, “Maharaj, this activity is also related to your
announcement. Though | am eating, yet my hunger is not satisfied.”
Hearing this the Emperor said with curiosity, “Tell me, who taught
you all this?”
“Your Majesty, a month ago, a stranger came to our village. It was
he who told me to act in this manner and get the reward announced by
you, the villager said.
The Emperor immediately understood who the stranger must be.
He shouted happily, “I have found Birbal!”. Then he gave a handsome
reward to the man from village. He sent his messengers to his village
to bring Birbal back with full royal honour.

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