AKB-BIR13-GoldCoinInButterCan

Akbar Birbal Stories 1. It is common for Akbar to entrust Birbal with the court cases under trial in Durbar. The merchant Madhusudhan came to the Durbar with permission from Akbar, paid homage to the emperor and addressed him, 'Prabhu! My name is Madhusudhan. I trade in ghee-clarified butter. I lent twenty mukaras to my friend Aslam khan upon his request, which he promised to repay withing fifteen days. Fifteen days have come and gone but my friend did not pay his debt to me. 2. Akbar questioned him, ''Did your friend sign the loan paper?” Madhusudhan answered, 'Aslam Khan was my friend for twenty years and therefore I did not ask Aslam to sign the loan paper. But what I say is true.' 3. Akbar turned towards Birbal and asked him to take the case to which Birbal agreed and asked the lender Madhusudhan to meet him in his house, in the evening. When Madhusudhan came to his house, Birbal asked him to narrate the events once again. Birbal said to the lending merchant, ‘You have no signed loan papers or witnesses to prove that you lent the money.' 4. Madhusudhan agreed and said, ''Yes.'' Birbal sent him home with words of encouragement and sent a message to Aslam Khan to visit him his house. Soon, a person came to Birbal’s house dressed in flashy clothes and addressed Birbal, ’I am Aslam Khan and understand you wanted me to report to you.’ 5. Birbal said to him, 'Forgive me for bothering you. A person lodged a complaint about you. I must make enquiries.' Aslam replied, 'Complaint against me. I am a very honest person. No chance for a complaint against me.' 6. Birbal explained to Aslam about the case against him, Aslam explained, 'Why would I ever borrow from him? I have plenty of properties in my name and make considerable profit in the butter business. Madhusudhan makes a false accusation on me. Birbal cautioned him, 'What you say is possible. Once a complaint has been filed, I am bound to investigate it. Aslam emphatically stressed to Birbal, 'Allah conferred on me immense wealth. I do not need to borrow any money from anyone.' 7. Immediately, Birbal changed the line of questioning and said the Aslam, ''Could you do me a little favor?' Aslam said, 'Say it.'' Birbal said, 'I told my friend in the village to send me two containers of butter. But he sent me two containers. It would be nice to sell one container of butter.' Aslam told Birbal, 'Give me the container. I will sell it and send you the money.' Birbal replied, 'Thanks, I will send tomorrow one container of butter to your shop.' Aslam left Birbal’s residence. Next day, Birbal went to Madhusudhan’s house and told him the exact same thing that he told Aslam. Madhusudhan agreed to sell one contained of butter. Two cans of butter were delivered to each one of them, two for Aslam and two for Madhusudhan. 8. Next day, when Birbal was working in his garden, Madhusudhan ran breathless to Birbal and said, 'One butter container that you sent yesterday, had a gold coin. I came to give the coin. Take the gold coin, and the money from the sale of the butter container.' Birbal said, 'Gold coin in the container. My luck. Thank you Madhusudhan.' Madhusudhan asked Birbal, 'let it be. What about the pending case?' Birbal told him, 'That one! I am still conducting the investigation. Tomorrow, we will have the verdict.' 9. Aslam came to Birbal’s house and handed over the money earned from selling the butter. Birbal expressed his thanks to Aslam and asked him to sit. Birbal called his servant and murmured something secretly in his ears. The whispered words did not fall into the e years of Aslam, who did not care to hear it either. 10. This is what Birbal whispered into the ear of his servant: ''Go straight to Aslam’s house. Tell his son that his father is in Birbal’s house. Tell him that his father forgot to take the gold coin from the butter container, and he (the servant) should bring it to Birbal’s house. After sending the servant to Aslam’s house secretly, Birbal was marking time in his guest room by having a talk with Aslam. 11. In a little while, Birbal’s servant returned with Aslam’s son, who ran to his father and said, ’Father, here is the gold coin that you found in the butter container yesterday and that you wanted brought here.’ Aslam angrily said, 'Big Mouth! Who asked you to come here? Gold coin in the butter container? What are you blabbering.'' Aslam tried to hide the truth. 12. Birbal said to Aslam, ‘Why do you threaten your son? Your son is telling the truth. You are trying to hide. I placed this gold coin in the butter container to test you. If you continue to tell lies, your head will be in the chopping block. Aslam confessed his crime and handed over the gold coin. 13. Birbal said, 'Give me the twenty Mukaras that you borrowed from Madhusudhana. Aslam insisted that he did not borrow money from Madhusudhan. Birbal, knowing that Aslam is back to his big lies threatened him, ‘If you continued to prevaricate, death by hanging will be his lot.'' Aslam accepted the truth, agreed to pay back his debt, begged for forgiveness and gave back the money owed. Akbar praised Birbal’s wisdom.