One hot summer day, Emperor Akbar and Birbal were riding on their horses. Akbar felt thirsty and so he got off his horse near a well.
He rested his hands at the boundary of the well, leaned a little lower and sighed with disappointment as the well was dry. Akbar was about to move away from the well, but accidentally he loosened one ring from his finger and the ring fell into the well.
“Oh no, Birbal! Look, my ring has fallen inside it,” said Akbar. Birbal looked inside, but he couldn’t do anything as the well was very deep. It wasn’t possible to go inside it and come back with the ring. Akbar said, “Birbal, I cannot part with the ring at all. I have to get it back anyhow. It’s my ancestral ring which has been passed to the Emperor’s of the kingdom for many ages.”
Birbal said, “My lord! I request you to calm down. Let me think how I can get your precious ring back.” Then, he asked the Emperor to wait for some time.
After a few moments, he saw Birbal coming back with fresh cow-dung in his hands. He threw the cow-dung where the ring had fallen. Then, he picked a stone up and tied it with a strong thread. He lowered the stone and let it rest on the cow-dung. Akbar was curious and asked, “What are you doing, Birbal?” Birbal replied, “Your Majesty, I am getting your ring back. Just wait for some more time.”
An hour or so passed. Birbal got up and checked the condition of the cow-dung. It had completely dried up. Then, Birbal pulled the thread, Since the stone had stuck to the dry cow-dung, it came up. In fact, to Akbar’s surprise, the ring had stuck to the cow-dung. That was how Birbal retrieved Akbar’s ring.
