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

Birbal Turns Tables Once Emperor Akbar was narrating his dream in the court. The dream began with Akbar and Birbal walking towards each other on a dark night. It was so dark that they could not see each other, and so collided and fell. The Emperor said - "Fortunately for me, I fell into a sea of Paayzam (an Indian sweets made with milk and semolina), but guess what Birbal fell into?" Courtiers asked curiously - "What, Your Majesty?" "A gutter." The whole court resounded with laughter. The Emperor was thrilled that at least for once he had been able to score over Birbal. But Birbal was ... read more

Heavy Burden Once a woman came to Birbal for his help. She said that the King wanted to construct some building on the land where her house was. She did not want to leave that place because that place belonged to her ancestors. Birbal assured her that she should be patient and he would try his best not to construct any building there. Construction began. Now, one day, Birbal came to that site with King Akbar for inspection. He saw many gunny bags lying near the pile of mud. Birbal started filling the gunny bags with that mud. "Why are you doing this, Birbal?" asked the King. Birbal repli ... read more

Birbal's Generosity One day a man stopped Birbal in a street and began narrating his woes to him. He said finally - "I have walked 20 miles to see you, and all along the way people kept saying that you are the most generous man in the country." Birbal knew that the man is going to ask some money from him. He asked - "Are you going back the same way?" The man replied - "Yes Sir." Birbal said - "Will you do me a favor?" The man said "Certainly, why not? What do you want me to do?" Birbal said - "Please deny the rumor of my generosity all the way back to your home." And Birbal walked awa ... read more

Akbar once put a question to his court that left everyone puzzled. As they all tried to figure out the answer, Birbal walked and asked what the matter was. And so they told him the question. ‘How many crows are there in the city?’ Birbal immediately smiled, went up to Akbar and announced that the answer to his questions was twenty-one thousand five hundred and twenty-three. When asked how he knew the answer, Birbal replied, ‘Ask your men to count the number of crows. If there are more, then the crows’ relatives from outside the city are visiting them. If there are fewer, then the crows a ... read more