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

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

Back to Square One As usual a lot of people were present in Akbar's durbar. A famous astrologer had come from a far away country. He was talking about the Solar System and the Earth's shape. At one point Akbar said, "If the earth is round, and if one travel strait towards one direction, he will come back to the same spot from where he has started the journey." "Theoretically it is correct", said the astrologer. "Why not in real life?", asked the king. "One has to cross oceans, mountains and forests to keep the path straight." the astrologer said. "Sail through the oceans, make tunne ... 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

The Sadhu Akbar came to the throne when he was only thirteen years old. In the years that followed, he built on of the greatest empires of his time. He lived in unimaginable splendor. He was surrounded by courtiers who agreed with every word he said, who flattered him and treated him as if he were a god. Perhaps it was not surprising that Emperor Akbar was sometimes arrogant and behaved as if the whole world belonged to him. One day, Birbal decided to make the great emperor stop and think about life. That evening as the emperor was going towards his palace, he noticed a Sadhu lying in ... read more