Emperor Akbar was narrating a dream. The dream
began with Akbar and Birbal walking towards each other on a moonless night. It
was so dark that they could not see each other and they collided and fell.
"Fortunately for me," said the Emperor.
"I fell into a pool of payasam. But guess what Birbal fell into?"
"What, your Majesty?" asked the
courtiers.
"A pool of water mixed with chilli
powder".
The court resounded with laughter. The emperor was
thrilled that for once he had been able to score over Birbal. But Birbal was
unperturbed.
"Your Majesty," he said when the laughter
had died down. "Strangely, I too had the same dream. But unlike you, I
slept on until the end. When you climbed out of that pool of delicious payasam
and I, out of that chilli powder water, we found that there was no water with
which to clean ourselves and so guess what we did?"
"What?" asked the emperor, warily.
"We licked each other clean!"
The emperor became red with embarrassment and
resolved never to try to get the better of Birbal again.
too clever
ReplyDeleteYes, he is.
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