BIRBAL STORIES

• Back to Square One
• Birbal Catches A Thief
• Half the Reward
• The Jealous Courtiers
• Cooking the Khichdi!
• List of the blind
• The Well dispute
• The Blind Saint
• Birbal identifies the thief
• Birbal's Painting
• Question For Question
• The Musical Genius
• Birbal, The Wise
• The True King
• Limping Horse
• Birbal's Sweet Reply
• Birbal Is Brief
• Birbal, The Child
• Just One Question
• The Emperor's Servant
• The Loyal Gardener
• Birbal Identifies a Guest
• Birbal Betrays Himself
• Noble Beggar
• Birbal's Choice
• Birbal Turns the Tables
• Birbal Returns Home
• Birbal Denies a Rumour
• The Sharpest Shield and Sword
• Birbal Outwits a Cheat
• Birbal Shortens a Road

Birbal's Choice

One day Emperor Akbar asked Birbal what he would choose if he were given a choice between justice and a gold coin.
"The gold coin," said Birbal.
Akbar was taken aback.
"You would prefer a gold coin to justice?" he asked, incredulously.
"Yes," said Birbal.
The other courtiers were amazed by Birbal's display of idiocy.
For years they had been trying to discredit Birbal in the emperor's eyes but without success and now the man had gone and done it himself!
They could not believe their good fortune.
"I would have been dismayed if even the lowliest of my servants had said this," continued the emperor. "But coming from you it's. . . it's shocking - and sad. I did not know you were so debased!"
"One asks for what one does not have, Your Majesty!" said Birbal, quietly. "You have seen to it that in our country justice is available to everybody. So as justice is already available to me and as I'm always short of money I said I would choose the gold coin."
The emperor was so pleased with Birbal's reply that he gave him not one but a thousand gold coins.