Akbar Birbal
Akbar Birbal
Akbar Birbal stories are very famous and people of all ages enjoy these tales. Last week our English teacher kept a story telling class on this topic. We were given fifteen minutes each and had to narrate any tale of Akbar Birbal fame. It was the recreation of Akbar Birbal stories and the best story and narration would receive prize.
Rakesh narrated the first story. It was titled The number of crows in the kingdom
On one fine morning, Akbar and Birbal were taking a leisurely walk in the palace gardens. Suddenly, Akbar thought of testing Birbal's humor by asking him a witty question. He asked Birbal, "How many crows are there in our kingdom?" Birbal could sense the amusement in the king's voice, and within a few minutes Birbal replied, "Sir, there are ninety nine thousand nine hundred and seventy crows in our kingdom". Surprised and amazed, Akbar further enquired Birbal, "What if we have more crows than this number?" Birbal replied, "Oh, then the crows from the other kingdoms must be visiting us''. " What if there are fewer number of crows?" asked Akbar. "Well, then some of our crows must be visiting other kingdoms as well", replied Birbal with a grin on his face. Akbar smiled at Birbal's great sense of humour and wit.
Moral: There is a solution to every problem. The only thing required is to find it.
Suresh was the second person to narrate. His title was Khichadi of Birbal
Once on a cold winter day, Akbar and Birbal were taking a walk alongside a lake. Akbar stopped and put his finger into the freezing water and immediately took it out and said, "I don't think anyone can sustain a night in this cold water of the lake". Birbal took that as a challenge and said that he would find someone who could complete the task. Akbar promised a sum of 100 gold coins to anyone who could spend a night standing in the chilling waters of the lake. Soon, Birbal found a poor man who agreed to undertake the challenge for the 100 gold coins. Guarded by two royal guards, the poor man spent the entire night standing in the freezing water. In the morning, the poor man was taken to court for the reward. On being asked by the king how he could stand in freezing water, the man answered, "My Emperor, I kept looking at a lamp that was burning at a distance, and spent my entire night looking at it". On learning this, the emperor said, "This man is not worthy of the reward as he could manage to stand in the lake because he was getting warmth from the lamp". The poor man felt cheated and heart-broken. He seeked help from Birbal. Birbal didn't go to the court the next day. Akbar visited Birbal to find out the reason of his absence. To his amusement, the Emperor found Birbal sitting beside the fire with a pot hanging almost 6 feet above it. On being enquired, Birbal said, "I am cooking khichadi, my lord". Akbar started laughing and said that was not possible. Birbal said, "It is possible my lord. If a poor man can stay warm by simply looking at the lamp burning at a distance, I can cook this khichadi in a pot hanging above the fire at only 6 feet above!" Akbar understood Birbal's point and amptly rewarded the poor man for completing the challenge.
Moral:A small hope is also powerful enough to complete a big task.
Now it was Shikha's turn. She gave her story the title, A foolish thief
Once upon a time, a rich merchant was robbed in Akbar's kingdom. The grief-stricken merchant went to the Emperor's court and appealed for help. Akbar asked Birbal to help the merchant to find the robber. The merchant told Birbal that he was suspicious that one of his servants could have committed the robbery. On getting the hint from the merchant, Birbal summoned all the servants and made them stand in a straight line. When asked about the robbery, each denied doing it. Birbal then handed over one stick of the same length, to each of them. Then he said, "By tomorrow, the robber's stick will increase by two inches". The next day when Birbal summoned everyone and inspected their sticks, one servant's stick was shorter by two inches. On being asked by the merchant about the mystery of finding the real thief, Birbal said, "It was simple: the thief had cut his stick by two inches, fearing that it would increase in size ,thus proving that he was the real offended".
Moral:Truth prevails
Then, Manpreet came forward with the title, Witty Birbal
Once Emperor Akbar lost a ring that was very dear to him. This ring was a gift from his father and losing it made the king restless. Akbar summoned Birbal and requested him to find out the ring. Birbal announced in the court, "My great Emperor, the ring is right here in the courtroom, and the one who has the ring has a straw stuck in his beard. " Everyone started looking at each other, and one of the courtiers started touching his beard to find if any straw is really attached or not. Birbal called the guards and asked them to search the suspect. On searching, the ring was retrieved. Akbar was amazed at how Birbal managed to find the ring. Birbal said, "My Lord, the one who is guilty will always feel scared thinking about the outcome of his wrongdoings".
Moral:Guilty conscience is always in fear of the outcome.
Likewise all of us narrated different stories of Akbar Birbal. The winning tale was narrated by Abdul. The title of his story was The pot full of wisdom
Once Emperor Akbar got so mad at Birbal that he told Birbal to leave the kingdom !. Heartbroken, Birbal left the kingdom and took refuge at a farmer's house in a nearby village. Birbal spent his days working at the farm of the farmer. As time passed, Emperor Akbar started feeling the absence of his favourite courtier. One day, Akbar decided to send across his royal guards to find Birbal and bring him back. The guards looked for Birbal in all directions, but all their efforts went in vain. Akbar thought of a trick to find Birbal – he made an announcement that whoever got him a pot full of wisdom that person would be given a pot filled with diamonds. The news reached all the nearby villages, and finally to Birbal as well. The villagers held a meeting to decide how to solve this mystery. Birbal offered to help, stating that he needs a month's time. Birbal took a pot and put a small watermelon in it without cutting it from its vines. After a month, the watermelon grew up to the size of the pot and then this pot was sent to the Emperor's court. And he was told that the wisdom should only be removed without breaking the pot. Akbar knew that this could be no one else other than Birbal, and he himself went to bring Birbal back to his court !
Moral:One should not make haste, as there is a solution to every problem. Only thing required is patience and positive attitude in order to find the solution to the problem.
Thus, the story competition ended. It was thoroughly enjoyed by each one of us. We got to learn many valuable lessons from this session. And we are looking forward to more of such competitions as they recreate the magic of the era. We all were temporarily transferred to the Akbar Birbal period in this story telling competition!