Just One Question One Day a scholar came to the court of Emperor Akbar and challenged Birbal to answer his questions and thus prove that he was as clever as people said he was. He asked Birbal: "Would you prefer to answer a hundred easy questions or just a single difficult one?" Both the emperor and Birbal had had a difficult day and were impatient to leave. "Ask me one difficult question," sad Birbal. "Well, then, tell me," said the man, "which came first into the world, the chicken or the egg?" "The chicken," replied Birbal. "How do you know?" asked the scholar, a note o ... read more

Hot Iron Test One day, one man wanted to punish a man named Hasan. He accused him of stealing his necklace, and reported this theft in the police. The case was brought in the Judge's court. Judge knew Hasan very well, and he also knew that he was not a thief. So he asked the man, "Why do you think that Hasan has stolen your necklace?" The man replied, "Your Honor, I have seen him stealing the necklace." Hasan said, "I am innocent, Your Honor. I do not know anything about his necklace." The man then said, "All right, if he is innocent, let him prove his innocence. let me bring the hot ... read more

The Jealous Courtiers King Akbar was very fond of Birbal. This made a certain courtier very jealous. Now this courtier always wanted to be chief minister, but this was not possible as Birbal filled that position. One day Akbar praised Birbal in front of the courtier. This made the courtier very angry and he said that the king praised Birbal unjustly and if Birbal could answer three of his questions, he would accept the fact that Birbal was intelligent. Akbar always wanting to test Birbals wit readily agreed. The three questions were 1. How many stars are there in the sky 2. Where is t ... read more

Birbal Gave Birth to the Child Once somebody had a wound in the palace of the Emperor. The royal Vaidya was called and he suggested that if the milk of a camel is applied on the wound, it will be cured soon. The Emperor announced it in his court that he needed camel's milk. Everybody was surprised to hear this but could not say anything. A couple of days passed but nobody could find camel's milk. So Birbal was assigned this work. Birbal tried his best to explain to the Emperor that there is no such thing like camel's milk, but he said - "When Raaj Vaidya has asked for it, it must exist. ... read more

Birbal Identifies Thief It so happened that once a rich merchant's house was robbed. The merchant suspected that the thief was one of his servants. So he went to Birbal and mentioned the incident. Birbal went to his house and assembled all of his servants and asked that who stole the merchant's things. Everybody denied. Birbal thought for a moment, then gave a stick of equal length to all the servants of the merchant and said to them that the stick of the real thief will be longer by two inches tomorrow. All the servants should be present here again tomorrow with their sticks. All the ... read more