King Vikramaditya cautiously approached the peepal tree. The corpse was hanging upside down as usual. He took the corpse down. Placing it on his shoulder he marched towards his kingdom. On the way, Baital the ghost narrated his next story as follows:There was a beautiful princess named Chandralekha in the kingdom of Magadha. Many princes […]
One day, an old man came to a King’s court accompanied by his two blind sons. He said, “Your Highness! I have suffered huge losses in business. I would be highly obliged if you could lend me one thousand gold coins. I will leave my sons with you as guarantee. My sons are blind but
One day, the Emperor expressed his desire to see an angel and an ugly witch. He expressed his wish to Birbal.The next day, Birbal came to the court along with his wife and a prostitute. Then presenting his wife he said to the Emperor, “Huzoor, this is an angel. I get endless satisfaction and happiness
Long ago, there lived a king named Vikramaditya who ruled over Ujjain. He was the most famous and fearless of all the rulers of his time.One day, he was presiding over his court as usual when a hermit came there. He offered a fruit to the King. According to the King, the fruit had been
A servant, who used to make the Emperor’s bed in the royal bedroom, was one day tempted to lie on it for some time.The servant then secretly lay on it. But then he quickly got up for the fear that someone might see him.But a guard had already seen him getting out of the bed.
Once, Birbal fell ill and didn’t attend the court for many days. The Emperor got anxious and thought of visiting Birbal.So one day, he went to Birbal’s place. Birbal was very happy to see the Emperor.Birbal had become very weak due to his illness. The Emperor wanted to know if Birbal’s illness had affected his
Once, there arose a dispute between an oil-seller and a butcher. Failing to settle it by themselves, they went to Birbal.When Birbal asked the butcher about the dispute, he said, “I was selling meat in my shop when this oil-seller approached me. I needed some oil and went in to fetch a container. But when
One day, the Emperor said to Birbal, “Birbal, in your holy book, it is written somewhere that, once Lord Vishnu ran all alone, upon hearing the cries of an elephant. He didn’t even take his servants along. Why was it so? Weren’t there any servants?”Birbal said, “Huzoor, I shall answer your question at the right
Chapter 9 ‘Well,’—Hurree shrugged his shoulders—’there is no accounting for you taste. Mahbub was angry too. He has sold horses all about here, and he says old lady is pukka [thorough] old lady and would not condescend to such ungentlemanly things. I do not care. I have got the papers, and I was very glad
Chapter 8 Two hundred miles north of Chini, on the blue shale of Ladakh, lies Yankling Sahib, the merry-minded man, spy-glassing wrathfully across the ridges for some sign of his pet tracker—a man from Ao-chung. But that renegade, with a new Mannlicher rifle and two hundred cartridges, is elsewhere, shooting musk-deer for the market, and
Tenali Raman looked out to find that the plants in his garden needed watering. But as he looked out, he saw some strange men creeping stealthily in the bushes. They were thieves. He had to think fast.He called out loudly to his wife, “There are thieves in the kingdom, my dear. We must hide all
There was a lot of noise in the market–place. A merchant was in the middle of the crowd shouting at the top of his voice.“I have lost my purse! I have lost my purse with varahas in it! Oh, my money! Please find it! I will reward anyone who finds it!”A poor beggar who was
Often Krishnadeva Raya toured his kingdom to hear the complaints of his subjects and to set things right. Usually, Tenali Raman was also with him.One day, the King saw a peasant working in the field and asked Tenali Raman to go and talk to him. Tenali Raman returned after speaking to him and told the
A son was born to King Krishnadeva Raya. There was great celebration in the kingdom. Everyone came to bless the child and congratulate the King.Tenali Raman came too. He looked at the infant in his cradle and said, “Sir, your little son will be an even greater man than his father.”The King smiled but said,
Vijayanagara was once having a terrible time being overrun by mice. They made everyone’s life a misery, eating food, getting into granaries, biting the animals and even babies. The people asked the King for help, making no effort to deal with the mice on their own.The King was known to be generous. He immediately ordered