Birbal Bitrays Himself – (Akbar Birbal Stories In English)

Birbal was missing. He and the emperor had a quarrel and Birbal had stormed out of the palace vowing never to return.

Now Akbar missed him and wanted him back but no one knew where he was.

Then the emperor had a brainwave. He offered a reward of 1000 gold coins to any man who could come to the palace observing the following condition. The man had to walk in the sun without an umbrella but he had to be in the shade at the same time.

“Impossible,” said the people.

Then a villager came carrying a string cot over his head and claimed the prize.

“I’ve walked in the sun but at the same time I was in the shade of the strings of the cot,” he said.

It was a brilliant solution. On interrogation the villager confessed that the idea had been suggested to him by a man living with him.

“It could only be Birbal!” said the emperor, delighted.

Sure enough, it was Birbal and he and the emperor had a joyous reunion.

Birbal Denies Rumor (Akbar Birbal Stories In English)

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 Identifies Thief (Akbar Birbal Stories In English)

One fine morning, a minister from Emperor Akbar’s court had gathered in the assembly hall.

He informed the Emperor that all his valuables had been stolen by a thief the previous night.

Akbar was shocked to hear this because the place where that minister lived was the safest place in the kingdom.

He invited Birbal to solve the mystery. Akbar said “It is definitely not possible for an outsider to enter into the minister’s house and steal the valuables.

This blunder is definitely committed only by another minister of that court.” Saying so, he arranged for a donkey to be tied to a pillar. He ordered all the courtiers to lift the donkey’s tail and say “I have not stolen.”

Birbal added “Only then we can judge the culprit.” After everyone had finished, he asked the courtiers to show their palm to him. All the courtiers except Alim Khan had a black patch of paint on their palm.

Birbal had actually painted the donkey’s tail with a black coat of paint. In the fright, the guilty minister did not touch the donkey’s tail at all. Thus Birbal once again proved his intelligence and was rewarded by the king with 1000 gold coins.

Birbal Is Brief (Akbar Birbal Stories In English)

One day Akbar asked his courtiers if they could tell him the difference between truth and falsehood in three words or less.

The courtiers looked at one another in bewilderment.

“What about you, Birbal?” asked the emperor. “I’m surprised that you too are silent.”

“I’m silent because I want to give others a chance to speak,” said Birbal.

“Nobody else has the answer,” said the emperor. “So go ahead and tell me what the difference between truth and falsehood is — in three words or less.”

“Four fingers“, said Birbal

“Four fingers?” asked the emperor, perplexed.

“That’s the difference between truth and falsehood, your Majesty,” said Birbal. “That which you see with your own eyes is the truth. That which you have only heard about might not be true. More often than not, it’s likely to be false.”

“That is right,” said Akbar. “But what did you mean by saying the difference is four fingers?‘

“The distance between one’s eyes and one’s ears is the width of four fingers, Your Majesty,” said Birbal, grinning.