WRITE A SHORT STORY BASED ON THE FOLLOWING HINTS. REMEMBER TO GIVE YOUR STORY A SUITABLE TITLE.
Emperor Akbar very fond of Birbal – other nobles at court extremely jealous – decide to get him banished – tell Akbar to ask difficult question – certain Birbal would not be able to answer – punishment – to be banished – Akbar asks Birbal how many star in sky – Birbal asks for some days to answer – finally comes to court with sheep – tells Akbar he has counted stars – the number is same as number of hair on sheep – tells nobles to count if they want to verify – Akbar has hearty laugh – rewards Birbal handsomely.
Answers
Answer:
King Akbar was very fond of Birbal. This made a certain courtier very jealous. Now this courtier always wanted to be chief minister, but this was not possible as Birbal filled that position. One day Akbar praised Birbal in front of the courtier. This made the courtier very angry and he said that the king praised Birbal unjustly and if Birbal could answer three of his questions, he would accept the fact that Birbal was intelligent. Akbar always wanting to test Birbals wit readily agreed.
The three questions were
1. How many stars are there in the sky
2. Where is the centre of the Earth and
3. How many men and how many women are there in the world.
Immediately Akbar asked Birbal the three questions and informed him that if he could not answer them, he would have to resign as chief minister.
To answer the first question, Birbal brought a hairy sheep and said, “There are as many stars in the sky as there is hair on the sheep’s body. My friend the courtier is welcome to count them if he likes.”
To answer the second question, Birbal drew a couple of lines on the floor and bore an iron rod in it and said, “this is the center of the Earth, the courtier may measure it himself if he has any doubts.”
In answer to the third question, Birbal said, “Counting the exact number of men and women in the world would be a problem as there are some specimens like our courtier friend here who cannot easily be classified as either. Therefore if all people like him are killed, then and only then can one count the exact number.”
Moral: There is Always a Way.
Explanation:
Emperor Akhbar had his ‘9 jewels’ and several other ministers in his courtroom. But, he was very fond of one amongst them – Birbal. Birbal was his chief minister and was very witty and intelligent. Because of this, other ministers grew very jealous of Birbal and felt that Emperor Akbar always favoured him over them. Now, this one courtier wanted to take Birbal’s position in the court. He knew he had to outwit Bribal for it, only then he could be the chief minister.
On one fine day, when Akbar praised Birbal in front of the courtier, which made him very angry. Then and there, he challenged Birbal to answer three questions. If Birbal could answer them correctly, the courtier would accept that he was indeed intelligent. If not, he would replace Birbal and become the chief minister. Akbar who was always keen on testing Birbal’s wit readily agreed.So, as decided, Akbar calls for Birbal and asks him these 3 questions. He adds that if he failed to answer these questions correctly, he would have to resign as the chief minister. Birbal accepted the challenge and thought for a while.
To answer the first question he bought a hairy sheep, and said, “There are as many stars in the sky, as there are on this sheep. And if my dear friend wants to verify this, he is welcome to measure it himself”.
For the second question, he drew some lines on the ground and bore an iron rod in it, saying, “This is the center of the Earth. The courtier is can measure it for himself if he has any doubts”.
And lastly, for the third question, Birbal said, there are exactly 1,000789,000 crows in the kingdom. If there are more, it means that there are relatives visiting these crows from other kingdoms. If there are less, then some crows from our kingdom might have gone to other kingdoms to visit their relatives.
The courtier was stumped! While Emperor Akbar and all other ministers burst out laughing! Akbar appreciated Bribal’s witty responses and gave him 1000 gold coins as a reward. Birbal gladly accepted the gift and mockingly smiled at the jealous courtier, whose anger knew no bounds!