Emperor Akbar was in the habit of putting riddles and puzzles to his courtiers. He often asked questions which were strange and witty. It took much wisdom to answer these questions. Once he asked a very strange question. The courtiers were dumb folded by his question. Akbar glanced at his courtiers. As he looked, one by one the heads began to hang low in search of an answer. It was at this moment that Birbal entered the courtyard. Birbal who knew the nature of the emperor quickly grasped the situation and asked, "May I know the question so that I can try for an answer". Akbar said, ... read more

Whose Bag? Once it so happened that there was an oil merchant. When the villagers came to buy oil from him he gave them the oil and collected money from them. One day he and a villager come to the court, both fighting for a bag of money. Each claimed that the bag belonged to him. The merchant said that it was his bag, when he turned to give the customer his oil, he pulled the bag from him and started fighting. The villager said it was his bag, when he was looking at some other things he placed it in front of the merchant and the merchant started to claim it. Everybody in the court was ... read more

Fear is the key One day King Akbar said to Birbal, "Birbal, my people are very obedient to me. They love me very much." Birbal smiled and replied, "This is true, but they fear you too, Jahaanpanaah." Akbar could not agree on this, so it was decided that Birbal's statement should be tested. Next day, according to Birbal's instructions, the King announced that he would be going for hunting, and people should pour a pot of milk in a tub kept in the courtyard. Next day when Akbar returned from hunting, he found that there was no milk in the tub, instead there was only water. Akbar got very d ... read more

How Akbar meet Birbal? Akbar loved hunting and used to escape to go for hunting even from his studies. Well, later he became a better rider and hunter than any one of his courtiers. One day when Akbar went for hunting, he and his some of the courtiers went so fast that they left the others behind. As the evening fell, everybody got very hungry and thirsty, they found that they had lost their way and now did not know where to go. At last they came to a junction of three roads. King was very happy to see the roads that now he could go reach his capital through one of these roads, but which ... read more

Birbal Denies Rumor One day a man stopped Birbal in the street and began narrating his woes to him. "I've walked twenty miles to see you," he told Birbal finally, "and all along the way people kept saying you were the most generous man in the country." Birbal knew the man was going to ask him for money. "Are you going back the same way?" he asked. "Yes," said the man. "Will you do me a favor?" "Certainly," said the man. "What do you want me to do?" "Please deny the rumor of my generosity," said Birbal, walking away.