Begum Tricked
The Empress was very fond of her dear brother Suleman Khan. She wanted the prestigious post of Wazir for her brother. However, the Wazir’s post was occupied by Birbal. The Empress was well aware that Birbal was a brilliant courtier and was apple of Akbar’s eye. Nevertheless, she decided to plead with the Emperor for her brother. In the evening, when Akbar returned to the palace, the empress said, “Jahanpanah my brother is an able person. Besides this, he is your relative. He must get prestigious post of Wazir.”
The Emperor exclaimed, “Begum, Wazir’s post requires extraordinary intelligence and vast administrative experience. Your brother is novice in this field. Besides this there in no negative reason to remove Birbal.” The Empress was adamant. She sternely replied, “Jahanpanah, if there is no reason, then get some excuse for his removal. Give him some work which he could not do.”
The puzzled Emperor asked, “Cite me some job for him which he probably could not do.”
Hmm! “Begum thought for some time and then said, “Jahanpanah, tomorrow evening while walking in the palace garden, you ask Birbal to call me from my palace. He will never succeed in his task. And then there will be at least one reason for his removal.”
The Emperor agreed. The Empress was very much sure that Birbal would certainly fail this time, as he could not force her to appear in the palace garden.
On the next day when Akbar was strolling in the garden, Birbal accompanied him as per the practice. The Emperor pretended to be disturbed. Birbal asked Akbar the reason for his worry. Akbar said, “Birbal, the Empress has displeased with me and refuses to talk. You know how much I love her here.”
Birbal agreed and left from there. He at once approached Begum in the palace. Begum was waiting for his arrival. Birbal said, “Begum Sahiba, the Emperor is in the palace garden. He wanted you there –!“ Hardly has he completed his sentence a messenger entered the chamber and whisphered something in the ear of Birbal. A few whispering words fell in the ears of begum, “……..very beautiful………No ………no! no need to come……..!” the messenger then left. Birbal then turned towards begum and said. “Begum Sahiba, sorry for the trouble, now you are no more required there.”
Birbal was gone but the whispering sound was still resounding in the ear of Begum. “about whom the messenger was saying - -, it seems a beautiful maiden - - but what she is doing in the garden? It seems because of her Emperor stopped me from coming there ----- !” thought the Empress who was badly disturbed and suspicious. She kept on thinking for a long time. At last unable to bear her distress and envy, she rushed towards the garden. When she reached there, she found Akbar alone. Seeing her there, the Emperor asked, “Begum, you had vowed to force Birbal fail this time. But it seems the whole thing turned in the favour of Birbal.”
The Empress was ashamed, “ I have been fooled by Birbal. Once again Birbal succeeded. However, I accept his wisdom and take back my words. I will never pressurize you to remove Birbal from his post as he is the most suitable person for it.”
The Emperor smiled and praised for Birbal in his heart.
One day Birbal saw the court’s artist quite worried. Birbal personally knew the artist. He was a humble gentleman. Birbal enquired with the artist. “You are looking gloomy. What’s the cause?”
The artist said, “Sir, I’m really worried. One big businessman is after ruining my reputation, which I have earned till now.” “What has happened?” enquired Birbal.
“Huzoor, one day I met the businessman in some party. There he was challenging that no artist could portray him perfectly. Hearing this, I accepted his challenge and fixed up the time with him for drawing his portrait. A few days latter when I finished the portrait, I visited the rich man’s house and showed the portrait to him. But seeing the portrait, he screamed – You have portrayed me in beard! I tried to convince him that at the time of portrait making, he was possessing beard. But he did not listen to me at all.”
The artist was in tears. Birbal consoled him and enquired further. The artist said, “Sir, then I humbly asked him to give me one more chance to prove my deftness. He agreed. After a few days I visited his house with a new portrait, I was quiet confident this time. But when I saw him he was cleaned shaved man. As I feared, he shouted – “this can’t be my picture. This picture is showing moustache, whereas I don’t possess it. It I tried to convince him that it was not my fault. However, he declared that I failed to fulfil my challenge. I asked for one more chance but he tricked me the next time too. Only after portraying him for five times, I could understand that his motive was evil and wanted to let me down.
The artist then showed Birbal all the five portraits. All the portraits were indeed nice ones. Birbal was kind hearted man, he decided to help the artist. He briefed the artist and accompanied him up to the rich man’s house. Birbal remained outside the house, whereas the artist entered inside.
As soon as the rich man saw the artist, he said mockingly, “O great artist! You are here again! It seems, you have come again with some of your rubbish item.” The artist humbly replied, “Sir, I’m sure, what I’ve brought today will surely match with your face.”
Saying so, he passed on a framed piece to him. The rich man held it in his hand and looked at it. But it was just a mirror.
He screamed angrily, “What a silly joke it is? You’ve brought just a mirror!” Then entered Birbal, who was standing outside and was listening to their conversation.
Birbal said, “Are you not happy with the mirror which is shoeing your exact picture? I think only mirror can depict your present face. You don’t need a portrait but a mirror, my friend.”
The rich man was very much ashamed to see and hear Birbal. He begged his pardon for his folly and paid the artist well.
The Emperor was very fond of tall, handsome and agile horses. Once a merchant from Arabia came to sell his horses. He displayed a few very impressive horses to the king. The Emperor liked those horses and ordered for a good number of similar horses. He gave two lakh gold coins as an advance to the merchant.
The man was a fraud. He disappeared with the money and did not return for a long time. Time passed. One day a unique whim struck Akbar’s psyche. He said to Birbal affirmed and promised to bring the list after sometime.
After a week, Birbal called on the Emperor with a long list of fools and presented the paper to the Emperor. Akbar was happy that Birbal had accomplished his job in a very little time. However, when he gazed on the paper, he was raged to read his own name on the top of it. “What’s this Birbal?” the Emperor roared. “How dare you put my name in this category?”
“I beg your pardon. Huzoor! You’re a justice loving person. Please judge your act regarding giving the advance to a stranger and then tell me, shouldn’t I keep you in this list?” asked Birbal with folded hands. The Emperor calmed down little and argued, “Birbal, assume that the man comes with the horses. Then what will you do?”
“I will immediately remove your name and put his name at your place.” promptly replied Birbal, the wittiest of all!
Once the Empress pressurized the Emperor to appoint her brother, Gulam Sheikh as the ‘Wasir’. Succumbed to her pressure, the Emperor removed Birbal from the ‘Wasir’s’ post and appointed Gulam Sheikh in his place.
The king of Iran always envied the great Emperor Akbar, whose court was studded with wonderful gems. The king of Iran knew it very well that Birbal was unparallel to his brilliance. When the Iranish Emperor received the news of Birbal’s removal from the ‘Wasir’s’ post, he at once sent a messenger with a message. The messager was also carrying a few pots with him.
The messenger came to the court off Akbar and read the message, “I’ve heard a lot about your wise courtiers. I need few pots of wisdom for my own use. Please send the pots filled with wisdom. In case, it’s not there then you please send the empty pots to me”
The Emperor assigned the responsibility of solving the puzzle to Gulam Sheikh. Gulam Sheikh was totally perplexed with the message. He spend many sleepless nights but could not understand what he should do?
At last, Gulam Sheikh went to his sister, the Empress and said. “I’m tried of the Wasir’s responsibility. I don’t want this anymore.”
Gulam Sheikh accepted in front of his sister that he was unable to solve the puzzle, which went sent by the Iranish Emperor. The worried Empress asked herself, “What will happen, if the solution is not sent?”
Finally the Empress called Birbal and sought his help. After listening to the whole episode, Birbal took all the pots in his possession. He then called the royal gardener and asked him to sow few seeds of pumpkin in the garden. When the plants grew and small fruits came on the plants, Birbal gave the pots to the gardener and asked him to place a small fruit in each pot without plucking it from the plant. Birbal instructed the gardener to allow the pumpkin to grow inside the pots.
After a few months, the pumpkin grew into full size and ultimately filled the entire space of empty pots. Birbal then plucked the pumpkins from their plants. He called the royal messenger and asked him to take back the pots to the Iranian Emperor. He also sent a message with the pots, “As per your wish, we are sending a small amount of wisdom. Its filled in the pots. Please take it out with breaking the pots.”
The messenger reached Iran with the pots. He presented the pots to the Emperor and read the message. After listening to the message and looking at the pots, the Emperor murmured. “It seems, Birbal is reappointed as ‘Wazir’. It can’t be Gulam Sheikh’s wisdom.”
The messenger returned to the court of Akbar. He narrated the whole episode. When the Empress came to know about it, she at once told the Emperor to reappoint Birbal at ‘Wazir’s’ post.
Once the Empress got a rare silk cloth piece as a gift from her Chinese counterparts. She called the Birbal and expressed her desire to get a beautiful dress stitched from the cloth. The Empress said, “Birbal, I’ve heard that tailors always steal some cloth from the cloth piece given to them for stitching. I’m not worried that a part of my cloth piece would be stolen. However, I don’t want that anyone other than me should wear the dress made from this cloth. I want you to make some arrangements so that the tailor can not steal from the cloth.”
Hearing this, Birbal said, “Begum Sahiba, my experience says that irrespective of whatever you do, the tailor will mange to steal a part of the cloth piece.” The Empress replied, “No, no! I don’t believe it. You call the royal tailor here and ask him to stitch my dress in the palace itself. Depute guards around his work place and then see how he manages to steal a sloth piece. I bet, he’ll not be able to do it.”
Birbal smiled and said,”Begum Sahiba, the tailors are very smart. Whatever you do, they are bound to steal a part of your cloth piece.” The Empress did not agree with him and took it as a challenge. The royal tailor was called and was ordered to work in the palace. He was told not to leave the palace until the work was finished.
The tailor came with all his essentials to stay in the palace premises. His work place was tightly observed by the royal guards. The tailor was not allowed to go out, not even to his house. Like this, ten days passed. The whole day, the tailor works on the extraordinary dress of the Empress.
One day, the tailor’s daughter came to see him. She said, “Father, please visit home today. Mother is remembering you a lot.” As the girl was not allowed inside, she remained standing out of the guarded room.
The tailor expressed his inability to visit home. But the daughter remained adamant. She kept insisting her father. Irritated be her repeated insistence, the angry tailor lifted his shoe and flung it towards her. He said, “Silly Girl! So many times, I have told you that I can’t come. Why don’t you listen?”
Seeing her father so much irritated, the little girl giggled out of amusement. She picked up the shoe, which was flung at her and ran away from there. Finally, the dress was ready after fifteen days. The empress was very happy to see it. She gave good reward to the tailor. Before leaving the palace, the tailor was thoroughly checked by the guards.
The empress was elated that her dress would be rare in the whole kingdom. One day, the empress was passing through the market with her royal cavalcade. Suddenly she noticed a woman wearing a blouse, which was made of the cloth similar to her rare dress.
Astonished to see this, the Empress immediately asked her guards to call the woman to her palace. When the woman came, the Empress asked her who she was. After enquiry it was found out that she was the wife of the royal tailor.
The Empress was angry as well as surprised. She called the tailor. The tailor was very much frightened. He went to Birbal and requested him to come along with him. Birbal felt pity and agreed to accompany him.
The empress was very angry, but Birbal cooled her down. He said, “Begum Sahiba, it’s not the fault of the tailor. The tailors are like this only. Please forgive him.” The Empress thought for a while and then said to the tailor. “I’ll forgive you if you reveal how did you manage to take the piece of the cloth out from the palace.
The tailor said, “Huzoor, when my daughter came to call me, I pretended to be very angry and threw my shoe towards her. I had suffered a small piece of cloth in the shoe. Before coming here, I had already briefed my daughter about it. So, when I flung the shoe towards her, she picked it and ran away from there. This way, the piece of cloth was brought out the palace.”
The tailor’s head bent down. As per her promise, the Empress forgave him and sent him back. She then turned towards Birbal and said, “Birbal, you were absolutely right. It’s impossible to prevent this lot from stealing the cloth.” Birbal smiled and went away from there.
The Empress was very fond of her dear brother Suleman Khan. She wanted the prestigious post of Wazir for her brother. However, the Wazir’s post was occupied by Birbal. The Empress was well aware that Birbal was a brilliant courtier and was apple of Akbar’s eye. Nevertheless, she decided to plead with the Emperor for her brother. In the evening, when Akbar returned to the palace, the empress said, “Jahanpanah my brother is an able person. Besides this, he is your relative. He must get prestigious post of Wazir.”
The Emperor exclaimed, “Begum, Wazir’s post requires extraordinary intelligence and vast administrative experience. Your brother is novice in this field. Besides this there in no negative reason to remove Birbal.” The Empress was adamant. She sternely replied, “Jahanpanah, if there is no reason, then get some excuse for his removal. Give him some work which he could not do.”
The puzzled Emperor asked, “Cite me some job for him which he probably could not do.”
Hmm! “Begum thought for some time and then said, “Jahanpanah, tomorrow evening while walking in the palace garden, you ask Birbal to call me from my palace. He will never succeed in his task. And then there will be at least one reason for his removal.”
The Emperor agreed. The Empress was very much sure that Birbal would certainly fail this time, as he could not force her to appear in the palace garden.
On the next day when Akbar was strolling in the garden, Birbal accompanied him as per the practice. The Emperor pretended to be disturbed. Birbal asked Akbar the reason for his worry. Akbar said, “Birbal, the Empress has displeased with me and refuses to talk. You know how much I love her here.”
Birbal agreed and left from there. He at once approached Begum in the palace. Begum was waiting for his arrival. Birbal said, “Begum Sahiba, the Emperor is in the palace garden. He wanted you there –!“ Hardly has he completed his sentence a messenger entered the chamber and whisphered something in the ear of Birbal. A few whispering words fell in the ears of begum, “……..very beautiful………No ………no! no need to come……..!” the messenger then left. Birbal then turned towards begum and said. “Begum Sahiba, sorry for the trouble, now you are no more required there.”
Birbal was gone but the whispering sound was still resounding in the ear of Begum. “about whom the messenger was saying - -, it seems a beautiful maiden - - but what she is doing in the garden? It seems because of her Emperor stopped me from coming there ----- !” thought the Empress who was badly disturbed and suspicious. She kept on thinking for a long time. At last unable to bear her distress and envy, she rushed towards the garden. When she reached there, she found Akbar alone. Seeing her there, the Emperor asked, “Begum, you had vowed to force Birbal fail this time. But it seems the whole thing turned in the favour of Birbal.”
The Empress was ashamed, “ I have been fooled by Birbal. Once again Birbal succeeded. However, I accept his wisdom and take back my words. I will never pressurize you to remove Birbal from his post as he is the most suitable person for it.”
The Emperor smiled and praised for Birbal in his heart.
The Exact Portrait
One day Birbal saw the court’s artist quite worried. Birbal personally knew the artist. He was a humble gentleman. Birbal enquired with the artist. “You are looking gloomy. What’s the cause?” The artist said, “Sir, I’m really worried. One big businessman is after ruining my reputation, which I have earned till now.” “What has happened?” enquired Birbal.
“Huzoor, one day I met the businessman in some party. There he was challenging that no artist could portray him perfectly. Hearing this, I accepted his challenge and fixed up the time with him for drawing his portrait. A few days latter when I finished the portrait, I visited the rich man’s house and showed the portrait to him. But seeing the portrait, he screamed – You have portrayed me in beard! I tried to convince him that at the time of portrait making, he was possessing beard. But he did not listen to me at all.”
The artist was in tears. Birbal consoled him and enquired further. The artist said, “Sir, then I humbly asked him to give me one more chance to prove my deftness. He agreed. After a few days I visited his house with a new portrait, I was quiet confident this time. But when I saw him he was cleaned shaved man. As I feared, he shouted – “this can’t be my picture. This picture is showing moustache, whereas I don’t possess it. It I tried to convince him that it was not my fault. However, he declared that I failed to fulfil my challenge. I asked for one more chance but he tricked me the next time too. Only after portraying him for five times, I could understand that his motive was evil and wanted to let me down.
The artist then showed Birbal all the five portraits. All the portraits were indeed nice ones. Birbal was kind hearted man, he decided to help the artist. He briefed the artist and accompanied him up to the rich man’s house. Birbal remained outside the house, whereas the artist entered inside.
As soon as the rich man saw the artist, he said mockingly, “O great artist! You are here again! It seems, you have come again with some of your rubbish item.” The artist humbly replied, “Sir, I’m sure, what I’ve brought today will surely match with your face.”
Saying so, he passed on a framed piece to him. The rich man held it in his hand and looked at it. But it was just a mirror.
He screamed angrily, “What a silly joke it is? You’ve brought just a mirror!” Then entered Birbal, who was standing outside and was listening to their conversation.
Birbal said, “Are you not happy with the mirror which is shoeing your exact picture? I think only mirror can depict your present face. You don’t need a portrait but a mirror, my friend.”
The rich man was very much ashamed to see and hear Birbal. He begged his pardon for his folly and paid the artist well.
The List of Fools
The Emperor was very fond of tall, handsome and agile horses. Once a merchant from Arabia came to sell his horses. He displayed a few very impressive horses to the king. The Emperor liked those horses and ordered for a good number of similar horses. He gave two lakh gold coins as an advance to the merchant. The man was a fraud. He disappeared with the money and did not return for a long time. Time passed. One day a unique whim struck Akbar’s psyche. He said to Birbal affirmed and promised to bring the list after sometime.
After a week, Birbal called on the Emperor with a long list of fools and presented the paper to the Emperor. Akbar was happy that Birbal had accomplished his job in a very little time. However, when he gazed on the paper, he was raged to read his own name on the top of it. “What’s this Birbal?” the Emperor roared. “How dare you put my name in this category?”
“I beg your pardon. Huzoor! You’re a justice loving person. Please judge your act regarding giving the advance to a stranger and then tell me, shouldn’t I keep you in this list?” asked Birbal with folded hands. The Emperor calmed down little and argued, “Birbal, assume that the man comes with the horses. Then what will you do?”
“I will immediately remove your name and put his name at your place.” promptly replied Birbal, the wittiest of all!
The Pot of Wisdom
Once the Empress pressurized the Emperor to appoint her brother, Gulam Sheikh as the ‘Wasir’. Succumbed to her pressure, the Emperor removed Birbal from the ‘Wasir’s’ post and appointed Gulam Sheikh in his place. The king of Iran always envied the great Emperor Akbar, whose court was studded with wonderful gems. The king of Iran knew it very well that Birbal was unparallel to his brilliance. When the Iranish Emperor received the news of Birbal’s removal from the ‘Wasir’s’ post, he at once sent a messenger with a message. The messager was also carrying a few pots with him.
The messenger came to the court off Akbar and read the message, “I’ve heard a lot about your wise courtiers. I need few pots of wisdom for my own use. Please send the pots filled with wisdom. In case, it’s not there then you please send the empty pots to me”
The Emperor assigned the responsibility of solving the puzzle to Gulam Sheikh. Gulam Sheikh was totally perplexed with the message. He spend many sleepless nights but could not understand what he should do?
At last, Gulam Sheikh went to his sister, the Empress and said. “I’m tried of the Wasir’s responsibility. I don’t want this anymore.”
Gulam Sheikh accepted in front of his sister that he was unable to solve the puzzle, which went sent by the Iranish Emperor. The worried Empress asked herself, “What will happen, if the solution is not sent?”
Finally the Empress called Birbal and sought his help. After listening to the whole episode, Birbal took all the pots in his possession. He then called the royal gardener and asked him to sow few seeds of pumpkin in the garden. When the plants grew and small fruits came on the plants, Birbal gave the pots to the gardener and asked him to place a small fruit in each pot without plucking it from the plant. Birbal instructed the gardener to allow the pumpkin to grow inside the pots.
After a few months, the pumpkin grew into full size and ultimately filled the entire space of empty pots. Birbal then plucked the pumpkins from their plants. He called the royal messenger and asked him to take back the pots to the Iranian Emperor. He also sent a message with the pots, “As per your wish, we are sending a small amount of wisdom. Its filled in the pots. Please take it out with breaking the pots.”
The messenger reached Iran with the pots. He presented the pots to the Emperor and read the message. After listening to the message and looking at the pots, the Emperor murmured. “It seems, Birbal is reappointed as ‘Wazir’. It can’t be Gulam Sheikh’s wisdom.”
The messenger returned to the court of Akbar. He narrated the whole episode. When the Empress came to know about it, she at once told the Emperor to reappoint Birbal at ‘Wazir’s’ post.
The Tailor
Once the Empress got a rare silk cloth piece as a gift from her Chinese counterparts. She called the Birbal and expressed her desire to get a beautiful dress stitched from the cloth. The Empress said, “Birbal, I’ve heard that tailors always steal some cloth from the cloth piece given to them for stitching. I’m not worried that a part of my cloth piece would be stolen. However, I don’t want that anyone other than me should wear the dress made from this cloth. I want you to make some arrangements so that the tailor can not steal from the cloth.” Hearing this, Birbal said, “Begum Sahiba, my experience says that irrespective of whatever you do, the tailor will mange to steal a part of the cloth piece.” The Empress replied, “No, no! I don’t believe it. You call the royal tailor here and ask him to stitch my dress in the palace itself. Depute guards around his work place and then see how he manages to steal a sloth piece. I bet, he’ll not be able to do it.”
Birbal smiled and said,”Begum Sahiba, the tailors are very smart. Whatever you do, they are bound to steal a part of your cloth piece.” The Empress did not agree with him and took it as a challenge. The royal tailor was called and was ordered to work in the palace. He was told not to leave the palace until the work was finished.
The tailor came with all his essentials to stay in the palace premises. His work place was tightly observed by the royal guards. The tailor was not allowed to go out, not even to his house. Like this, ten days passed. The whole day, the tailor works on the extraordinary dress of the Empress.
One day, the tailor’s daughter came to see him. She said, “Father, please visit home today. Mother is remembering you a lot.” As the girl was not allowed inside, she remained standing out of the guarded room.
The tailor expressed his inability to visit home. But the daughter remained adamant. She kept insisting her father. Irritated be her repeated insistence, the angry tailor lifted his shoe and flung it towards her. He said, “Silly Girl! So many times, I have told you that I can’t come. Why don’t you listen?”
Seeing her father so much irritated, the little girl giggled out of amusement. She picked up the shoe, which was flung at her and ran away from there. Finally, the dress was ready after fifteen days. The empress was very happy to see it. She gave good reward to the tailor. Before leaving the palace, the tailor was thoroughly checked by the guards.
The empress was elated that her dress would be rare in the whole kingdom. One day, the empress was passing through the market with her royal cavalcade. Suddenly she noticed a woman wearing a blouse, which was made of the cloth similar to her rare dress.
Astonished to see this, the Empress immediately asked her guards to call the woman to her palace. When the woman came, the Empress asked her who she was. After enquiry it was found out that she was the wife of the royal tailor.
The Empress was angry as well as surprised. She called the tailor. The tailor was very much frightened. He went to Birbal and requested him to come along with him. Birbal felt pity and agreed to accompany him.
The empress was very angry, but Birbal cooled her down. He said, “Begum Sahiba, it’s not the fault of the tailor. The tailors are like this only. Please forgive him.” The Empress thought for a while and then said to the tailor. “I’ll forgive you if you reveal how did you manage to take the piece of the cloth out from the palace.
The tailor said, “Huzoor, when my daughter came to call me, I pretended to be very angry and threw my shoe towards her. I had suffered a small piece of cloth in the shoe. Before coming here, I had already briefed my daughter about it. So, when I flung the shoe towards her, she picked it and ran away from there. This way, the piece of cloth was brought out the palace.”
The tailor’s head bent down. As per her promise, the Empress forgave him and sent him back. She then turned towards Birbal and said, “Birbal, you were absolutely right. It’s impossible to prevent this lot from stealing the cloth.” Birbal smiled and went away from there.
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