AKBAR & BIRBAL

This book is made to learn stories in English

language and to improve English speakin
skills.
All the stories and pictures in this book
belong to thir specific owners and are not
of my own.
 1. The Crows in The Kingdom
On one fine sunny day, Akbar and Birbal
were taking a leisurely walk in the palace
gardens. Suddenly, Akbar thought of
testing Birbal’s wits by asking him a tricky
question. Emperor asked Birbal, “How
many crows are there in our kingdom?”

Birbal could sense the amusement in the

king’s voice, and within a few minutes
Birbal replied, “My king, there are eighty
thousand nine hundred and seventy-one
crows in our kingdom”. Surprised and
amazed, Akbar further tested Birbal, “What
if we have more crows?” Birbal replied,
“Oh, then the crows from the other
kingdoms must be visiting us’’. “ What if
there are lesser crows?” asked Akbar.
“Well, then some of our crows must be
visiting other kingdoms”, replied Birbal with
a grin on his face. Akbar smiled at Birbal’s
great sense of humour and wit.

There is always a solution if one thinks with

ease.
 2. Birbal’s Khichadi
Once on a cold winter day, Akbar and
Birbal were walking by a lake. Akbar
stopped and put his finger into the freezing
water and immediately took it out saying,
“I don’t think anyone can sustain a night in
this cold water”.

Birbal took that as a challenge and said

that he would find someone who can do
it. Akbar promised a sum of 1000 gold coins
to whoever could spend a night standing
in the cold water of the lake. Soon, Birbal
found a poor man who agreed to
undertake the challenge for the 1000 gold
coins. Guarded by two royal guards, the
poor man spent the entire night standing in
the freezing water. In the morning, the
poor man was taken to court for the
reward. On being asked by the king how
he could stand in freezing water, the man
replied, “My lord, I kept looking at a lamp
that was burning at a distance, and spent
my entire night looking at it”.
 On learning this, the emperor said, “This
man is not worthy of the reward as he
could manage to stand in the lake
because he was getting warmth from the
lamp”. The poor man felt doomed and
heart-broken. He reached out to Birbal for
help. Birbal didn’t go to the court the next
day. Akbar visited Birbal to find the reason.
To his amusement, the King found Birbal
sitting beside the fire with a pot hanging
almost 6 feet above it. On being enquired,
Birbal said, “I am cooking khichadi, my
lord”. Akbar started laughing and said that
was impossible.

Birbal said, “It is possible my King. If a poor

man can stay warm by simply looking at
the lamp burning at a distance, I can cook
this khichadi the same way.” Akbar
understood Birbal’s point and rewarded
the poor man for completing the
challenge.

Hope can inspire people to work hard.

 3. The Foolish Thief
Once upon a time, a rich merchant was
robbed in King Akbar’s kingdom. The grief-
stricken merchant went to the court and
asked for help. Akbar asked Birbal to help
the merchant find the robber. The
merchant told Birbal that he was suspicious
of one of his servants. On getting the hint
from the merchant, Birbal summoned all
the servants and told them to stand in a
straight line. When asked about the
robbery, everyone denied doing it, as
expected.

Birbal then handed over one stick of the

same length, to each one of them. While
dispersing, Birbal said, “By tomorrow, the
robber’s stick will increase by two inches”.
The next day when Birbal summoned
everyone and inspected their sticks,
one servant’s stick was shorter by two
inches. On being asked by the merchant
about the mystery of finding the real thief,
Birbal said, “It was simple: the thief had cut
his stick by two inches, fearing that it would
increase in size”.

Truth always prevails

4. Wise Birbal
Once upon a time, King Akbar lost a ring
that was very precious to him. This ring was
a gift from his father and losing it made the
king very sad. Akbar summoned Birbal and
requested him to find the ring. The court
was full of courtiers. Birbal announced, “My
great king, the ring is right here in the
courtroom, and the one who has the ring
has a straw stuck in his beard.” Everyone
started looking at each other, and one of
the courtiers started touching his beard to
find the straw. Birbal called the guards and
asked them to search the suspect.
 On searching the suspect, the ring was
retrieved. Akbar was amazed at how Birbal
managed to find the ring. Birbal said, “My
King, the one who is guilty will always feel
scared”.

The guilty conscience needs no accusation.

5. The Farmer’s Well

Once upon a time, a clever man sold his
well to a farmer. The next day, when the
farmer went to the well to fetch some
water, the man said that he only sold the
well and not its water. The farmer did not
know what to do, and with a sad heart, he
went to Akbar’s court. Birbal was told to
take care of the case. The following day,
the man who sold the well along with the
farmer was called to the court. The clever
man made the same statement – he had
sold his well, not the water in it.
 On learning this, Birbal said, “My friend, in
that case, you either remove your water
from the well or pay tax for your water
because it is the farmer’s well.” The man
realised his mistake and asked for
forgiveness as he felt helpless and
outwitted.

If you cheat, you will pay for your deeds.

6. The Pot of Wit

Once upon a time, king Akbar got so
mad at Birbal that he told Birbal to leave
the kingdom and go away. Heartbroken,
Birbal left the kingdom and took refuge at
a farmer’s house in a nearby village. Birbal
spent his days working at the farm. As time
passed, King Akbar started missing his
favourite courtier. One day, Akbar
decided to send across his royal guards to
find Birbal. The guards looked for Birbal in
all directions, but all their efforts went to
waste.
 Akbar thought of a trick to find Birbal – he
made an announcement that whoever
got him a pot full of wit would be given a
pot filled with diamonds. The news
reached all the nearby villages, and to
Birbal as well. The villagers held a meeting
to decide how to solve the king’s mystery.
Birbal offered to help, stating that he
needs a month’s time. Birbal took a pot
and put a small watermelon in it without
cutting it from its vines. After a month, the
watermelon grew up to the size of the pot.
This pot was sent to the King, and he was
told that the wit should only be removed
without breaking the pot. Akbar knew that
this could be no one else but Birbal, and he
went to bring Birbal back to his court.

Haste makes waste, think hard because there is a

solution to every problem.
 7. Just One Question
The tales of Birbal’s unparalleled wit and
wisdom had reached faraway lands.
Once a scholar visited Akbar’s court with
the thought of challenging Birbal’s
intelligence. The scholar told the king that
he is the smartest and even Birbal would
not be able to answer his questions. Akbar
called Birbal to the court and told him
what the scholar claimed.

Birbal accepted the challenge that the

scholar had posed for him. The scholar
asked Birbal, “Do you want to answer a
hundred easy questions or one difficult
question?” Birbal said that he wanted to
answer the difficult one. The scholar said,
“Tell me Birbal, what came first, the
chicken or the egg?” Birbal thought for a
while and said, “Chicken came first”.

The scholar mocked Birbal and said,

“How can you be sure?” Birbal
immediately replied, “I had only promised
to answer one question, and therefore, I
will not reply”. The scholar felt ashamed of
his claim and left with a heavy heart.

Presence of mind helps solve even the trickiest of

problems.

8. The Hens and The Rooster

Once King Akbar thought of playing a trick
on his favourite minister, Birbal. He
confided in all other ministers and shared
his plan with them. As per the plan, all the
ministers had to carry an egg each the
following day, hidden inside their robes.

The next day, Akbar told his courtiers that

he had a dream – according to it, if the
ministers fetch an egg each from the royal
pond, it will prove their loyalty towards him.
After narrating his dream, Akbar asked all
his ministers to do the same and show him
their loyalty.
 As planned, all the ministers pretended
to look for the eggs, and within no time all
of them returned an egg each that was
already hidden inside their robes. Birbal
kept looking for the egg, but couldn’t find
any. When Birbal reached empty-handed,
everyone sneered at him, and they were
smiling at each other. Birbal could gauge
the entire scenario and went up to the king
and made the loud rooster-sounds. The
King was perplexed and asked Birbal why
he did so, upon which Birbal replied, “My
King, I am not a hen, and therefore, I could
not fetch you any eggs; but I am a rooster,
and this is what I can do best”. Listening to
this, everyone burst into a hearty laugh.

Self-confidence helps in dealing with difficult

situations.
 9. Who Is the King
Once Birbal was sent as an ambassador
to another kingdom. The King of that
kingdom had also heard stories about
Birbal’s sharp intellect and wanted to test
the same. The King made all his ministers
dress up like him, and they all sat in a line
to test Birbal.

When Birbal entered the courtroom, he

was amazed to see everyone dressed in
the same clothes and sitting on a similar
kind of throne. Perplexed, Birbal took a
moment to observe everyone and then
went up to one of them and bowed in front
of him. It was the King himself, who then
was surprised beyond words.

He stood up and hugged Birbal and also

asked him how he could guess so. Birbal
smiled and answered, “My lord, the kind of
confidence you exuded, no one else did,
and they also kept looking at you for
approval”. The King felt amused and
praised Birbal for his unmatched intellect
and presence of mind.

Intelligent people can comprehend a great deal

through observation.

10. Gold Coin and Justice

Just like any other day in King Akbar’s
court, once Akbar asked Birbal, “My dear
Birbal if I tell you to choose between justice
and a gold coin, what will you choose?”
Without taking long to answer, Birbal
replied, “My lord, I will choose a gold coin,
without a doubt”.

Everyone including king Akbar was

aghast at Birbal’s instant reply and thought
that this time Birbal had fumbled for once.
King Akbar said, “I am very disappointed in
you. Why would you choose something of
lesser value like a gold coin over something
as valuable as justice?” Birbal replied with
a grin on his face, “My kind King, there is no
dearth of justice because there is justice
everywhere in your kingdom. I felt no need
to ask something that I have in abundance
but my lord, I surely fall short of money, and
a gold coin would be nice”.

Listening to this reply, Akbar was

speechless, but he had a big smile on his
face. He felt overjoyed with the reply and
rewarded Birbal with 100 gold coins.

One should choose one’s words wisely.

 11. Who’s Mango Tree is It?
Once, two brothers, Ram and Sham, were
fighting over the ownership of a Mango
Tree. Ram said the Mango tree was his;
while Sham said he owned it. Unable to
find a way out, they decided to ask Birbal
for help. Birbal analysed the situation and
told the brothers to remove all the
mangoes, share them between the two
brothers, then cut the tree in two equal
halves.

Upon hearing Birbal, Ram noded, while

Sham pled not to cut the tree for he had
nurtured it for three whole years. Birbal
found who the real owner of the tree was.
He said, “The tree belongs to Sham
because the very thought of cutting it
down troubled him. Someone who has
cared for it for three years won’t cut it
down immediately.”

True ownership comes with responsibilities.

shoaibansariprints