Cooking The Khichdi On a cold winter day Akbar and Birbal took a walk along the lake. A thought came to Birbal that a man would do anything for money. He expressed his feelings to Akbar. Akbar then put his finger into the lake and immediately removed it because he shivered with cold. Akbar said “I don’t think a man would spend an entire night in the cold water of this lake for money.” Birbal replied “I am sure I can find such a person.” Akbar then challenged Birbal into finding such a person and said that he would reward the person with a thousand gold coins. Birbal searched far and ... read more

The Choice of Birbal One day Emperor Akbar asked Birbal what he would choose if he were given a choice between justice and a gold coin. “The gold coin,” said Birbal. Akbar was taken aback. “You would prefer a gold coin to justice?” he asked, incredulously. “Yes Jahaanpanaah,” said Birbal. The other courtiers were also amazed by Birbal’s display of idiocy. For years they had been trying to discredit Birbal in the emperor’s eyes but without success and now the man had gone and done it himself. They could not believe their good fortune. “I would have been dismayed if even the lowli ... read more

Three Idols As you know Akbar considered Birbal the most intelligent person of his kingdom. Once a sculptor challenged Baadshaah Akbar that he would show three idols to him, which would look exactly like each other to his courtiers and they would have to rate them good, ok and bad. Akbar agreed. All the courtiers tried to rate them but failed, because they were so alike that they did not know how to rate them. Now it was Birbal's turn. He noticed a small hole in the ears of the idols. Birbal got curious, so he took three wires and inserted them in those holes. In the case of the first ... 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

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