Birbal Shortens Road Once the Emperor Akbar was traveling to a distant place along with some of his courtiers. It was a hot day and the Emperor was tired of his journey. He asked querulously - "Can't any shorten this road for me?" Birbal said - "Yes, I can." The other courtiers looked at one another perplexed. All of then knew that there was no other path through the hilly terrain. The road on which they were traveling, was the only one that could take them to destination. So they were surprised to hear Birbal that he could shorten the road. The Emperor said - "You can shorten the road? ... read more

Hunting & Dowry Akbar had a passion for hunting. One day Akbar was on his hunting trip, that he heard two owls quarreling very fiercely. Akbar asked Birbal, "Birbal, what are these owls saying? Why are they quarreling so loudly?" Birbal said, "Both of them are settling the dowry amount, Huzoor. The first one who is groom's father, is saying that he wants to take 40 jungles in the dowry, with no animals at all. The other owl, who is bride's father is saying that he can arrange only 20 jungles at the moment." In the mean time one owl hooted once more very loudly. Akbar asked Birbal, "No ... 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.

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

Why Camel's Neck is Crooked? As you all know, Emperor Akbar was very impressed with Birbal's wisdom and greatly enjoyed his quick wit. One fine morning when Akbar was especially pleased with Birbal, as a gesture of appreciation, he promised to reward him with many valuable and beautiful gifts. However, many days passed, and still there was no sign of even one gift. Birbal was quite disappointed with the king. Then one day, when Akbar was strolling down the banks of River Yamuna with his ever faithful Birbal at his side, he happened to notice a camel passing by. He asked Birbal why the ne ... read more