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

Just One Question

One Day a scholar came to the court of Emperor Akbar and challenged Birbal to answer his questions and thus prove that he was as clever as people said he was. He asked Birbal: "Would you prefer to answer a hundred easy questions or just a single difficult one?"
Both the emperor and Birbal had had a difficult day and were impatient to leave.
"Ask me one difficult question," sad Birbal.
"Well, then, tell me," said the man, "which came first into the world, the chicken or the egg?"
"The chicken," replied Birbal.
"How do you know?" asked the scholar, a note of triumph in his voice.
"We had agreed you would ask only one question and you have already asked it" said Birbal and he and the emperor walked away leaving the scholar gaping.