Akbar was very fond of creative arts. He had a very keen interest in music. Once he held a music competition. He invited the best musicians of Hindustan to participate in it and play their compositions. In fact, it was an honour for those musicians to be invited by Akbar.
On the decided day for the competition, all musicians had come together in the royal court of the Emperor. As As Akbar walked into the court, everyone gathered around him. He said, “I, the Emperor of India, welcome all of you to my capital city. I hope that your stay so far is full of delight. Now, as you all know the motive of this music competition. I would like to inform all of you about the rules of the competition. This competition is not an ordinary one. Instead of pleasing me, all of you have to please the bull which will be shortly standing in the court. Anyone who successfully wins the interest of the bull, will automatically win the competition. So, come up with the best of your abilities and impress not me but the bull.
As soon as the Emperor finished announcing the rules of the competition, one of the servants brought the bull in the court. All participants were shocked as well as amused at the rules as this was not something they heard or witnessed usually. They all went blank while thinking how they would impress the bull as it seemed to be an impossible task.
After a few moments, the competition got under way. One by one each musician came and played his best tune. However, he could not impress the bull. In fact, Akbar seemed to get impressed by various tune but unfortunately it was not to be counted. Only the bull had to be impressed by it. Whenever a participant came a played music, the bull stood still. It was completely unaffected by even by his presence.
Then, in the end it was the turn of Birbal. Akbar was confident that Birbal would be able to impress the bull, but also feared lest Birbal too should fail to impress the bull, as the best musicians had failed in the competition.
Everyone thought that Birbal would play a sweet melody, but he played strange sounds of a cow moaning and humming of mosquitoes on his instrument. The moment Birbal started, the ears of the bull erected and it started moving the its tail. This is how witty Birbal won the competition among the best musicians of the nation and made Akbar feel proud again.
