One of Akbar’s courtiers rushed to him and said, “There was a theft in my house last night. All my valuables are gone.” Akbar said, “How can that be? You live in a safe locality.” Then Akbar called Birbal and said, “One of the courtiers must be the culprit.” Birbal said, “I will find out, Your Majesty,” and he left the court. Soon, he returned with a donkey and said, “This magical donkey will tell us who the thief is.” Then he asked all the courtiers to lift the donkey’s tail and say, “I am not the thief.” One by one, the courtiers followed Birbal’s instructions. In the end, Birbal asked them to raise their hands. Everyone’s hands were black. But there was one courtier whose hands were clean. Birbal pointed towards him and said, “Here is our thief. He was scared of the magical donkey. So he did not touch the tail.”
Birbal and the Magical Donkey
