One morning, Akbar had called all ministers and courtiers for a very urgent meeting in the court. Everybody had to appear before the Emperor at the given time. As the clock struck ten, all the courtiers and the ministers had come and seated on their respective seats. When Akbar came, he threw a glance across the hall to see if everybody was present. Birbal wasn’t there.
He asked, “Where is Birbal?” Everyone was quiet. One courtier stood up and bowed down before the Emperor and said, “Your majesty, Birbal had asked me to convey the message to you that he will not be able to make it here in time. But, he will be here as soon as possible.”
This made Akbar furious. After some time, Birbal came, bowed down before Akbar and seated himself at his place.
Akbar asked Birbal, “Didn’t you hear the orders of being present in the court in time? Why were you late?”
Birbal replied, “I beg your pardon, Your Majesty. But my child was crying and I wasn’t able to calm him down.”
Akbar was disappointed with Birbal’s reason as he did not consider it to be a valid reason for coming late. So, he expressed his displeasure and said, “Why did you take so long to calm a child down? Do you know how to handle a crying child?”
Birbal said, “Your Majesty, if you don’t mind, then please teach me how to do it. It would be great if I could learn it from you.” Akbar without any problem agreed to do it. Everyone’s eyes were fixed on the Emperor as they hadn’t seen him doing any such thing before.
Akbar asked Birbal to act like a child and cry as badly as possible. And, he started crying like a baby. Akbar came closer and said, “Why are you crying, my child? What do you want?” Birbal replied while mimicking a child’s tone, “Cow! I want a cow right now.” Akbar at once took Birbal to a cow. After a few moments, he came back in the court with a cow.
Akbar said, “See, here is the cow. Now stop crying.” Birbal started crying even louder. Akbar asked, “Why are you crying now? Didn’t you like the cow? Or do you want something else?” Birbal replied, “I feel hungry. I want to eat something. No, I want to drink milk.”
Akbar instantly ordered for milk. But Birbal didn’t stop crying. Akbar again asked what he wanted. Birbal said, “I want you to put the milk back into the cow.” Akbar laughed and accepted that it was not easy to calm a crying child down.
