The Wicked Barber's Plight As we all know, Birbal was not only Emperor Akbar’s favourite minister but also a minister dearly loved by most of the commoners, because of his ready wit and wisdom. People used to come to him from far and wide for advise on personal matters too. However, there was a group of ministers that were jealous of his growing popularity and disliked him intensely. They outwardly showered him with praise and compliments, but on the inside they began to hatch a plot to kill him. One day they approached the king’s barber with a plan. As the barber was extremely close ... 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 The Wise Man In the town of Agra there lived a rich businessman. But he was also quite a miser. Various people used to flock outside his house everyday hoping for some kind of generosity, but they always had to return home disappointed. He used to ward them off with false promises and then never live up to his word. Then one day, a poet named Raidas arrived at his house and said that he wanted to read out his poems to the rich man. As the rich man was very fond of poetry, he welcomed him in with open arms. Raidas started to recite all his poems one by one. The rich man was very pl ... read more

Best Flowers One day Akbar was taking a walk in his Royal gardens with several courtiers. Many flowers were flowering at that time of season. A poet pointed out towards a beautiful flower and said, "Look Jahaanpanaah, how beautiful flower that is? No man can produce such a beautiful thing as this." Birbal was also there. He said, "I don't agree with this, sometimes man can make more beautiful things than this." Akbar said, "Oh no Birbal, you are talking nonsense. This flower is really very beautiful." After a few days, Birbal presented Akbar a very skilled craftsman from Agra. He present ... read more

The Parrot Neither Eats, Nor Drinks A person was very fond of parrots. He used to catch parrots, train them and sell them to interested people. One time he got a good parrot, so he trained him in talking, and when he was trained he presented him to the king. King liked the parrot because he used to reply his questions too. The king made special arrangements for his safety, security and care and warned the people if somebody will tell me about his death, he will be hung. Hearing this the parrot was kept under very special care. But it so happened one day that suddenly the parrot died. Now ... read more