More of Birbal

Once Akbar the ' Great said
to Birbal, " Birbal, can you
show me a faithful creature and
a faithless one?"

Birbal thought for a minute
and declared that he would
produce both varieties in the
court the next day.

Birbal had long wanted to
ridicule his son-in-law who was
a mean and selfish fellow. He
thought the King's request gave
him an excellent opportunity
for this. So the next day he
took his son-in-law as well as
his dog to the court. He
brought the dog forward and
said, " Sire, here is the faithful
creature I promised to show
you. It eats what I give, and
runs after me in gratitude."

Akbar asked, '! But where is



Birbal pointed out to his son-
in-law and said, " There he is.
Faithless to the marrow. I give
him whatever he asks, but he is
always grumbling, and heaps
insults on me."

At orice Akbar said, " Then
let my soldiers behead him.
You will be well rid of a faith-
less creature."

Birbal answered swiftly,
" Sire, you and I are both
sons-in-law of some fathers-in-
law. We too have taken every-
thing from them and grumbled
for more."

The King laughed heartily to
hear this.

At another time Birbal asked
the Great King, *' Sire, why
should the sun always set in



Akbar replied, " You should
go and ask a fool to answer
this question."

That is why I am asking
you, Sire," shot back Birbal.

The King far from being
ofTended laughed, at. such a swift
repartee.

Amongst the courtiers Abul
Fazl was not very friendly with
Birbal. One day he decided
to belittle the court wit. So
he said, " Birbal, the King is
thinking about appointing you
the controller of all the dogs in
the land. What do you think?"

Birbal replied, " Good. Let
him appoint me. At least I
shall have the pleasure of con-
trolling.you first."

Akbar was highly amused to
hear this. From that day on
Abul Fazl never tried his
sarcasm on Birbal.

Once a relative of Birbal fell
foul, of the Great King and was
sentenced to death. The King
went to the scaffold and saw
Birbal. standing there. Even
before the latter could say any-
thing, the King declared,
" Birbal, I know what you are
going to say. Whatever you
say, I am going to do the
opposite."

Birbal pretended to be sur-
prised and said, *¦ But Sire, I



was only .going to say that you
must on no account free this
relative of mine. Hang him
well and perfectly."

The King was so much taken
aback by BirbaPs wit that he
released the offender forthwith
and rewarded Birbal for his
presence of mind.

Once Akbar told Birbal that
he would give him some land
as a gift. But whenever the
court wit reminded him about
it, Akbar pretended to be sur-
prised and raised and lowered
his head like a camel.

One day Akbar was watch-
ing a parade of his best camels
and after sometime turned to





'Birbal and. said, '•' Tell me, why
is it that these camels raise and
lower their heads so?'* -

Birbal replied innocently,
" Well, Sire, they must have
promised to gift some land to
their dependants. Everytime



the latter ask for it, the camels
shrug their shoulders to indicate
their dismissal of the depen-
dants' plea."

Akbar, without a word wrote
out the deed for some land and
gave it to Birbal.