With the passing of every day, more and more courtiers and ministers were feeling insecure because of Akbar and Birbal’s bond. They always wondered what there was in Birbal which they didn’t have. After plotting various conspiracies, they finally gathered the courage to talk to the Emperor in this regard. What they wanted was to give them a chance to prove their credibility.
A courtier said to Akbar, “Your majesty, all of us are aware your biased attitude towards Birbal. What we fail to understand why that is so. We are also capable of doing what he can. Give us one chance and we will prove it to you.”
Akbar had a little smirk on his face after listening to the courtier. He said, “So, you have the audacity to challenge my judgements and opinions. Fine! I will give you one chance, which is actually a challenge; if you succeed then I will accept that I am biased towards Birbal. If not, then you will know what it means. Anyway, the challenge would be to bring me three things with these three coins. And those three things should be ‘here’, ‘there’ and ‘neither here nor there.”
The courtier was so puzzled that he thought of quitting, but he thought that once he got out he might be able to find something. So, the first thing he did after getting out of the palace was to run to the richest merchant in the kingdom.
The courtier explained him what he wanted. He said, “Sir, please help buy ‘here’, ‘there’ and ‘neither here nor there’ with these three coins.” The merchant at first thought that the courtier was not sane. He said, “Are you crazy? These things cannot be bought. Are you all right, man?”
The courtier ran to the other merchants too. But none of them could be of any help for him. After spending the entire day, he sadly returned to the palace and said that he failed the challenge. Then, Akbar called Birbal and gave the same challenge to him.
Birbal instantly left and came back after taking not more than two hours. The courtiers and the other ministers were shocked to see him back in the palace so soon. Akbar was not surprised as he knew that Birbal would successfully come up to the challenge.
On being asked, whether he bought ‘here’, ‘there’ and ‘neither here nor there’ with three coins, Birbal bowed down in front of the Emperor. He said, “Your Majesty, I first bought sweets ‘here’ with one coin. I gave the second coin to a beggar in the name of the Almighty God. So, it went ‘there’. And at last, I gambled with the last coin. So it went ‘neither here nor there’.
This was how Birbal proved himself to everyone and showed how he was better than they were.
