Birbal Stories: Birbal Identifies Thief
(Najamuddin Ghanghro, Karachi ( Original from Larkana))
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of Birbal Stories of Birbal Identifies Thief.
One fine morning, a minister from Emperor Akbar's court had gathered in the
assembly hall.
He informed the Emperor that all his valuables had been stolen by a thief the
previous night.
Akbar was shocked to hear this because the place where that minister lived was
the safest place in the kingdom.
He invited Birbal to solve the mystery. Akbar said "It is definitely not
possible for an outsider to enter into the minister's house and steal the
valuables. This blunder is definitely committed only by another minister of that
court." Saying so, he arranged for a donkey to be tied to a pillar. He ordered
all the courtiers to lift the donkey's tail and say "I have not stolen."
Birbal added "Only then we can judge the culprit." After everyone had finished,
he asked the courtiers to show their palm to him. All the courtiers except Alim
Khan had a black patch of paint on their palm. Birbal had actually painted the
donkey's tail with a black coat of paint. In the fright, the guilty minister did
not touch the donkey's tail at all. Thus Birbal once again proved his
intelligence and was rewarded by the king with 1000 gold coins.