Count Wisely

One day, king Akbar asked a question in his court that left everyone in the courtroom puzzled. As they all tried to figure out the answer, Birbal walked in and asked what the matter was. They repeated the question to him.

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The question was, “How many crows are there in the city?”

Birbal immediately smiled and went up to Akbar. He announced the answer; he said there were twenty-one thousand, five hundred and twenty-three crows in the city. When asked how he knew the answer, Birbal replied, “Ask your men to count the number of crows. If there are more, then the relatives of the crows must be visiting them from nearby cities. If there are fewer, then the crows from our city must be visiting their relatives who live outside the city.” Pleased with the answer, Akbar presented Birbal with a ruby and pearl chain

One day, two best friends were walking on a lonely and dangerous path through a jungle. As the sun began to set, they grew afraid but held on to each other. Suddenly, they saw a bear in their path. One of the boys ran to the nearest tree and climbed it in a jiffy. The other boy did not know how to climb the tree by himself, so he lay on the ground, pretending to be dead. The bear approached the boy on the ground and sniffed around his head. After appearing to whisper something in the boy’s ear, the bear went on its way. The boy on the tree climbed down and asked his friend what the bear had whispered in his ear. He replied, “Do not trust friends who do not care for you.”

There was once a woodcutter, working hard in the forest, getting wood to sell for some food. As he was cutting a tree, his axe accidentally fell into the river. The river was deep and was flowing really fast – he lost his axe and could not find it again. He sat at the bank of the river and wept.

While he wept, the God of the river arose and asked him what happened. The woodcutter told him the story. The God of the river offered to help him by looking for his axe. He disappeared into the river and retrieved a golden axe, but the woodcutter said it was not his. He disappeared again and came back with a silver axe, but the woodcutter said that was not his either. The God disappeared into the water again and came back with an iron axe – the woodcutter smiled and said it was his. The God was impressed with the woodcutter’s honesty and gifted him both the golden and silver axes.

There lived two brothers near a forest. The elder one was very mean to the younger brother – he would finish all the food and wear all the new clothes of his younger brother. One day, the elder brother decided to go into the forest to get some firewood and sell it in the market. As he went around, chopping tree after tree, he stumbled upon a magical tree. The tree said, “Oh kind sir, please do not cut my branches. If you spare me, I will give you golden apples.” He agreed, but was left disappointed with the number of apples the tree gave him. As greed overcame him, he threatened the tree that he will cut the entire trunk if it didn’t give him more apples. The magical tree, instead, showered upon the elder brother, hundreds and hundreds of tiny needles. The elder brother lay on the ground, crying in pain, as the sun set.

The younger brother was worried and so he went in search of his elder brother. He found him lying in pain near the tree, with hundreds of needles on his body. He rushed to his brother and removed each needle, lovingly and gently. After he finished, the elder brother apologised for treating him badly and promised to be better.