“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
Caliph Harun-al-Rashid saw the old blind beggar on the street and stopped to ask him how he lost his sight. The man was named Baba Abdullah. The old man said he had been orphaned when he was very young, but slowly he began to learn to trade and soon became the owner of eighty camels.
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
Near the coast of Persia was an island ruled by King Shahzaman. He had a son named Qamar-ul-zaman. When he was fifteen, the King told him to select a bride, but the Prince refused to marry. The King was angry and imprisoned him in a castle tower! The castle was inhabited by a female genie,
The Caliph of Baghdad had a task for Sindbad to perform, so he sent for him one day. The King of the Indies had sent him lavish gifts and he wished to reply with equal courtesy to that gesture. So, reluctantly, Sindbad went to the Caliph’s court to receive his orders. The Caliph gave him
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
Husain, Ali and Ahmed were the sons of the Sultan, who also had a beautiful niece, Noor-un-nihar, an orphan whom the Sultan brought up. The three Princes loved Noor, but the Sultan didn’t want them to marry her, for fear that they would quarrel. But when the Princes asked him to decide which of them
When Aqib came to the throne, he went all over his kingdom and then decided to visit the islands around so that he might meet all his subjects. Having been over all his own islands he set off to explore further lands in a fleet of ships. Things went peacefully for forty days and then
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
Sindbad decided to travel over land routes to a port in India and then sail from there. It was a very safe and useful journey and he and his friends traded well along the way. The ship sailed from an Indian port and kept going well, till a storm came up, carrying it off its
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
Khusroshah came to the throne and went in disguise with his Vazir around his kingdom to see if all was well. One day, he overheard three sisters chatting about the person each of them wished to marry. The eldest said that she wished to marry the Sultan’s baker. “I wish to marry the Chief Cook
When Mustafa, a poor tailor, died, his wife was left to care for her lazy son, Aladdin. He did nothing but play in the streets. A stranger watched him and one day, posing as Aladdin’s uncle, he wept and hugged him and gave him costly gifts. Aladdin and his mother were puzzled, for they had
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