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Mind is
an ass, and at times it needs whipping. What is  true
of an ordinary human being will hold good even to great men. Emperor
Akbar was no exception to this rule. Birbal was there to lash the
mind of his master whenever it went awry.
On a
cold wintry evening, Akbar and Birbal were taking a walk along the
lake. Birbal was thinking loudly:
"A
man would do anything for money."
Akbar
put his hand in the lake, and immediately, withdrew it, because the
water was biting cold. Akbar thought aloud too:
"I
don't think anyone would spend an entire night in the cold water of
this lake either for money or for no money."
Birbal
accepted this as a challenge that he would prove his words --"A
man would do anything for money." So he set out to locate a
person who would spend an entire night in the royal pond for a
thousand gold coins. At last, he found a poor man who was desperate
enough to accept the challenge.
The man
entered the royal pond. Akbar had his guards posted there to make
sure that the man really did as promised. The poor man was able to
withstand the ordeal of spending an entire night in the cold water
for money. Next morning he approached the emperor in royal court for
his reward. But Akbar teased the poor man with a lot of
verifications to ascertain weather he had really spent the entire
night in the lake. He finally asked him how the man managed to spend
the night in the lake. The poor man innocently replied, "There
was a street lamp nearby, and I concentrated on the lamp. And so was
I away from the cold."
By this
reply he thought that the emperor would be all the more pleased.
But
Akbar disappointed him, saying "No reward. You have taken the
warmth from the street lamp". The poor man's confusion was
confounded, and he left the court most frustrated.
Hearing
this, Birbal wanted to do some thing to set right the wrong done to
the poor man. That evening Birbal invited Akbar for a tasty Kichiri
in his humble abode. Akbar, though an emperor, kindly and secular as
he was, accepted Birbal's invitation thereby, Akbar and a few of him
trusted confidants arrived at Birbal's house.
After a
long bout of Shatranj (Chess), the emperor's party was ready for
dinner. Now and then, Birbal went in to check if the Kichiri was
ready in the Kitchen. But the Kichiri was not getting cooked at all.
Akbar
and the crew, waiting for dinner, were infuriated. All went to see
what was happening in the kitchen:
There
they saw some burning twigs on the floor, and a bowl filled with
Kichiri hanging five feet above the fire. Then emperor Akbar could
not help but laugh:
"How
can the Kichiri be cooked, if it is so far away from the fire?"
Birbal
answered most thought fully.
"In
the same way as the poor man received heat from a street lamp."
The king
understood the meaning of Birbal's reply. Thereby, emperor Akbar
called for the poor man to the court to award the promised reward.
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