One day, the Emperor thought of an idea and decided to tease Birbal. He gave his ring to one of the courtiers and asked him to keep quiet. When Birbal came to the court, the Emperor said, “Birbal, today while taking a bath I lost my ring. But I am sure that one of the […]
One day, the Emperor and Birbal while taking a walk reached a small village.On the way, the Emperor saw a dog that was eating a black and dried-up piece of roti.The Emperor thought of teasing Birbal. He said, “Look Birbal! That dog is eating ‘Kali’.” (Kali literally means Black.)Birbal understood what the Emperor meant. He
The Emperor and his two sons often used to go to the river to take a bath. Sometimes, Birbal too accompanied the royal family.Once as usual, they went for a bath in the Yamuna along with Birbal. The Emperor with his two sons descended into the river water after undressing. Birbal watched them silently. After
One night, Akbar dreamt that all his teeth except one had fallen.The next morning, he called all the astrologers of the kingdom to his court. He told them about his strange dream and asked them to decipher its meaning.The astrologers discussed the Emperor’s dream for long and arrived at a conclusion, “Your Majesty, your dream
Birbal was the Emperor’s greatest favourite. He was consulted by the Emperor in each and every matter. However, some senior courtiers in the court took it as an insult to them; the royal favour extended to Birbal had made them achingly jealous of him.One day, when the Emperor entered the court, he noticed that all
One morning, Birbal was taking a stroll in a park. A man approached him and asked, “Could you please tell me where I can meet Birbal?”“In a park,” answered Birbal.The man paused for a while and then asked Birbal, “Where does he live?”“In his house,” answered Birbal.The man paused again. Then, he again asked Birbal,
A poor fisherman and his wife lived in a shack beside the sea. They were extremely poor and the fisherman just about managed to catch a couple of fish for their own table.One day when he went fishing, he caught a large flounder. The flounder begged him to let him go. “I’m not really a
A long time ago, a poor woodcutter lived in a hut on the edge of a forest with his son, who was clever. The woodcutter sent him to school, but he became so poor that he could not educate him for long. The woodcutter was helpless. So, the son returned and decided to help his
Once upon a time, a man and his wife lived very happily. They were sad as they had no children. A juniper tree stood in the yard outside and the woman loved the tree.One winter, while sewing, she pricked her finger with a needle. The drops of blood on the snow made her wish she
A widow and her daughter lived in a small cottage in a village. They were so poor that they often had to go to bed hungry. One day when they had nothing to eat, the girl wandered off into the woods to look for berries or nuts. Finding only a few berries she began to
Once upon a time in a little village, there lived a man and his wife with three sons. The two elder ones were clever and smart, but the youngest, though kind-hearted, was a bit of a fool. Everyone called him a Simpleton, made him run errands and laughed at him.One day, the man sent his
In a village near a wood a miller lived with his beautiful and intelligent daughter. They were very poor. But the miller had great ambition and wanted to be an important and influential person.One day the King, out hunting, saw the miller. The man bowed and introduced his daughter too. “She is very extraordinary, Your
In a village lived a young couple who were soon going to have a baby. Their cottage overlooked a wonderful garden surrounded by a wall. It had lovely flowers and fresh vegetables, but they never dared to enter it because it belonged to a witch.One day, the woman saw some fresh rapunzel growing in the
A poor woodcutter lived in a forest with his little son, Hansel, and his daughter, Gretel. His wife died when the children were very small, and the woodcutter married again. His new wife did not like Hansel and Gretel at all. She was waiting to get rid of them.One day when the woodcutter came to
Once upon a time, a King and a Queen lived very happily. The Queen was going to have a baby. As she sat sewing near a window framed with ebony one winter day, she pricked her finger with the needle. The blood fell on the snow that lay on the window sill.“How beautiful the colours