Birbal’s wit and cleverness had spread throughout the world. Even the king of Egypt had heard the stories of Birbal’s intelligence. Once, he invited Birbal to his kingdom to test his wit.
Birbal set out to Egypt as per the king’s invitation. The king of Egypt had arranged seven odd dummies who looked exactly like him and were dressed like the king of Egypt and seated on the thrones. The king of Egypt was himself sitting amongst them.
Birbal reached Egypt and entered the king’s court. For a moment, he looked carefully at each of the kings sitting on the thrones. Then reaching in front of the real king of Egypt he bowed before him. The king was very much surprised. He asked, “Birbal! how could you recognise me so easily?”
Birbal calmly answered, “When I entered your court, I noticed that all these fake kings were looking towards you. But you were sitting quite confidently. Though they are disguised as kings, they paid a lot of attention to you because only you were the real ruler.”
The king was very pleased with Birbal. After some time, he sent Birbal to the palace with one of his ministers.
The minister showed around the palace to Birbal. Finally, he showed him one of the grand royal toilets also to Birbal.
There, Birbal saw a huge framed picture of Emperor Akbar hanging on the toilet wall.
Looking at it, Birbal quickly remarked, “Wow! You have hung Emperor Akbar’s picture at the perfect place. The effect of the picture is such that one gets frightened by looking at it.”
Then, Birbal said to the minister, “I am sure your king is suffering from constipation. In order to avoid using purgatives, he has hung the picture of Emperor Akbar in his toilet.”
The minister was left speechless. He understood what Birbal really meant to say. The king then said, “Birbal, we haven’t hung this picture to insult your Emperor; it was only to test your intelligence.”
The king of Egypt then sent Birbal back to India with several gifts, like clothes, jewels and camels.
The king then wrote a letter to Emperor Akbar. In it, he had said, “You possess innumerable jewels, but the most precious one is Birbal.”
