Akbar’s admiration for Birbal was popular. Birbal had earned a special place in the kingdom of Akbar. Because of this, one courtier had developed jealousy against Birbal.
The courtier had always wished to be at the position at which Birbal was, that is, the chief minister’s position in Akbar’s kingdom. But his presence had made the courtier’s wish only a dream. And this angered him a lot.
One day, in the court, Akbar was all praises for Birbal and the courtier did not like it at all. This made him furious. So, he decided to stand up and express his hatred towards the minister. The courtier started accusing Akbar of being biased towards Birbal and praising him for no reason. Then, he put up a challenge in front of Birbal, saying”, If you are able to answer three of my questions, I shall accept that there is no person more intelligent than you.” Akbar agreed to it.
The courtier came ahead and stood up in front of Akbar and Birbal and put three questions to the Emperor’s favourite minister.
The three questions were-
- How many stars are there in the sky?
- Where is the centre of the earth?
- How many men and how many women are there
in the world?
After the courtier had completed asking the questions, Akbar turned towards Birbal and said, “Birbal, if you fail to answer the questions asked by our courtier, you will have to resign as the chief minister right at the moment. And, this man will take your position.”
Birbal nodded in agreement and said, “Your majesty, I will try to answer these questions to the best of my abilities. And I hope that the answers will satisfy you.” Then, he brought a hairy sheep, looked at the courtier and said, “My dear fellow, the answer to the first question is that there are as many stars in the sky as there is hair on this sheep’s body. You are most welcome to count the hair and tell all of us how many stars there are.”
For the second answer, he drew a few lines with chalk on the floor and bore an iron rod in it and said, “This is the centre of the earth, my friend. If you have any doubts, you can measure it by yourself.”
And for the third answer, he said, “It is not possible to count the exact number of men and women as there are different species too which are neither men nor women. So first, such species will have to be killed then only the number can be counted.”
