Best of Akbar Birbal

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 blacksmith was skilled in making very strong and fine armour. One day, some courtiers of Emperor Akbar had an altercation with the blacksmith. The courtiers wanted to take revenge. Therefore, they poisoned the ears of the Emperor against the blacksmith.One day, the blacksmith came to the court with a newly made fine armour. The

One day, a courtier entered the court with a glass jar in his hands.“What is there in that jar?” asked the Emperor.“Your Majesty! It is a mixture of sand and sugar,” replied the courtier.“What for?” asked Akbar again.“Excuse me, Your Majesty!” said the courtier, “We want to test Birbal’s intelligence. We want him to separate

“Birbal, tell me whether most of the people have eyes or not ?” the Emperor asked.The Emperor thought that the world was full of people with eyes, because one could not hide anything from them. They see it and start asking questions about it. The people seemed to have eyes all over.But Birbal disagreed saying.

One day, a slave named Daulat made a mistake and incurred the wrath of Akbar. Emperor asked him to leave the court.Daulat went to Birbal’s house. Birbal listened to him and suggested, “Go back to the court and ask the Emperor—Daulat has come, should he stay or leave?”The Emperor was surprised to see the culprit

One day, Akbar and Birbal were taking a stroll in the garden. Birbal was narrating a funny story and Akbar was enjoying it. All of a sudden, Akbar found a piece of bamboo lying on the ground. He got an idea to tease Birbal. Showing the piece of bamboo to Birbal he asked, “Can you

Akbar and Birbal were sitting in the palace balcony watching sunrise. The sunrays falling on the sparkling waters of the Yamuna gave it a shimmering golden sheen. The Emperor used to watch this natural show every day.Suddenly, their attention was diverted by some noise. They noticed a few thieves fleeing after looting some travellers. The

Birbal’s wit and cleverness had spread throughout the world. Even the king of Egypt had heard the stories of Birbal’s intelligence. Once, he invited Birbal to his kingdom to test his wit.Birbal set out to Egypt as per the king’s invitation. The king of Egypt had arranged seven odd dummies who looked exactly like him

One day, Emperor Akbar came to the court and started attending to the routine court work. Just then, a messenger arrived with the queen’s message that she wanted urgently to see the Emperor in her palace.When the Emperor was readying to depart, all the courtiers stood. Birbal too, but while doing so, he passed a

One day, Emperor Akbar said to Birbal, “Birbal! Bring me two creatures—one who is faithful and other who is treacherous.”After thinking deeply, Birbal brought a dog and his own son-in-law to the court. He presented them before the Emperor, and said, “Huzoor! Here are the two as you wished.”The Emperor said, “Birbal, now explain who

One day, Emperor Akbar said to Birbal, ‘‘Birbal, since you are so wise, your Guru must also be full of wisdom. I wish to meet him.’’Birbal kept mum because he did not have any Guru.He thought for a while and then said, ‘‘Maharaj, my Guru is not here; he has gone on a pilgrimage to

It was rainy season. River Yamuna was in spate and overflowing. The gushing water was making a lot of noise. The Emperor’s palace was situated on the river-bank. He was fast asleep.It was a peaceful night, so, the frightening sound of the roaring river could be heard very clearly.Suddenly in the midnight, the Emperor woke

Akbar loved horse-riding to such an extent that he would pay any amount for the horse he liked. Merchants from distant lands as far as from Arabia, Persia and some other countries used to visit his court with strong and beautiful horses. The Emperor paid handsomely for the horses, he chose for his personal use.

One day, Emperor Akbar and Birbal went together for a walk. At sunset Birbal sat down on the river-bank and performed ‘sandhya’—the Hindu ritual. The Emperor was very much impressed. He said to Birbal, “Birbal, tell me how to perform ‘sandhya’. I like it very much and I too like to do it.”Birbal replied, “Your