Birbal The Clever

Most importantly, he made the Great Mughal laugh. Birbal, a real person with the name 'Maheshdas', was one of the 'nine gems' of court advisers of Akbar the Great. He also composed poetry by the pen name 'Brahma'. He led an expedition into faraway Afghanistan and managed to subdue the turbulence there. Hearing the news of his death there, Akbar burst forth: "Birbal, you always gave the helpless whatever you had. I am helpless now and yet you have left nothing for me!" Birbal's name however does not rest on these achievements. He is turned into a legend by the innumerable stories of his wit and wisdom, sense of justice and fairplay and above all, his uncanny skill in turning the tables on his detractors including the king himself. In the stories here, Birbal proposes the punishment of a kiss for the offense of pulling a hair from the king's moustache, shows how one's own child is the most beautiful, proves that the whims of a child can beat the king, makes the king realize that inauspiciousness can be mutual and guesses the mother-tongue of a linguist with a spray of water.