Birbal Is Brief

One day Akbar asked his courtiers if they could tell him the difference between truth and falsehood in three words or less.

The courtiers looked at one another in bewilderment.

“What about you, Birbal?” asked the emperor. “I'm surprised that you too are silent.”

“I'm silent because I want to give others a chance to speak,” said Birbal.

“Nobody else has the answer,” said the emperor. “So go ahead and tell me what the difference between truth and falsehood is — in three words or less.”

“Four fingers” said Birbal.

“Four fingers?” asked the emperor, perplexed.

“That's the difference between truth and falsehood, your Majesty,” said Birbal. “That which you see with your own eyes is the truth. That which you have only heard about might not be true. More often than not, it's likely to be false.”

“That is right,” said Akbar. “But what did you mean by saying the difference is four fingers?”

“The distance between one's eyes and one's ears is the width of four fingers, Your Majesty,” said Birbal, grinning.

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The Fox and The Grapes

One hot summer day, a fox was strolling along when he noticed a bunch of juicy grapes just turning ripe, hanging on a vine high above.

“Mmm, that’s just the thing to take care of my thirst,” said the fox.

He trotted back a few steps, then ran forward and jumped, just missing the grapes. He turned around and tried again.

“One, two, three, go,” he said, and he lunged at the grapes with all his might.

But again, he missed.

Again and again he tried to pluck the grapes from the vine, but at last he gave up.

He walked away with his nose in the air, saying, “I didn’t want those old grapes anyway. I’m sure they are sour.”

Moral: You shouldn’t speak badly about something that you once wanted, just because you can’t have it.

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