Who Are Donkeys?

One fine day, Akbar, accompanied by his two sons and his clever Minister Birbal, went to the river to take a bath.

They asked Birbal to hold their clothes while they were bathing and took off their clothes and stepped into the river.

Birbal stood at the bank of the river, waiting for them, with their clothes on his shoulder. Looking at Birbal standing like this, Akbar felt like teasing him and remarked that Birbal looked like a washerman's donkey with a load of clothes.

Birbal quickly retorted that he was carrying the load of not just one donkey, but actually three.

The emperor was speechless.

The Frog Prince

One fine evening a young princess put on her bonnet and clogs, and went out to take a walk by herself in a wood; and when she came to a cool spring of water with a rose in the middle of it, she sat herself down to rest a while. Now she had a golden ball in her hand, which was her favourite plaything; and she was always tossing it up into the air, and catching it again as it fell.
After a time she threw it up so high that she missed catching it as it fell; and the ball bounded away, and rolled along on the ground, until at last it fell down into the spring. The princess looked into the spring after her ball, but it was very deep, so deep that she could not see the bottom of it. She began to cry, and said, 'Alas! if I could only get my ball again, I would give all my fine clothes and jewels, and everything that I have in the world.'
Whilst she was speaking, a frog put its head out of the water, and said, 'Princess, why do you weep so bitterly?'
'Alas!' said she, 'what can you do for me, you nasty frog? My golden ball has fallen into the spring.'
The frog said, 'I do not want your pearls, and jewels, and fine clothes; but if you will love me, and let me live with you and eat from off your golden plate, and sleep on your bed, I will bring you your ball again.'
'What nonsense,' thought the princess, 'this silly frog is talking! He can never even get out of the spring to visit me, though he may be able to get my ball for me, and therefore I will tell him he shall have what he asks.'
So she said to the frog, 'Well, if you will bring me my ball, I will do all you ask.'
Then the frog put his head down, and dived deep under the water; and after a little while he came up again, with the ball in his mouth, and threw it on the edge of the spring.
As soon as the young princess saw her ball, she ran to pick it up; and she was so overjoyed to have it in her hand again, that she never thought of the frog, but ran home with it as fast as she could.

The frog called after her, 'Stay, princess, and take me with you as you said,'
But she did not stop to hear a word.
The next day, just as the princess had sat down to dinner, she heard a strange noise - tap, tap - plash, plash - as if something was coming up the marble staircase, and soon afterwards there was a gentle knock at the door, and a little voice cried out and said:

'Open the door, my princess dear,
Open the door to thy true love here!
And mind the words that thou and I said
By the fountain cool, in the greenwood shade.'

Then the princess ran to the door and opened it, and there she saw the frog, whom she had quite forgotten. At this sight she was sadly frightened, and shutting the door as fast as she could came back to her seat.
The king, her father, seeing that something had frightened her, asked her what was the matter.
'There is a nasty frog,' said she, 'at the door, that lifted my ball for me out of the spring this morning. I told him that he should live with me here, thinking that he could never get out of the spring; but there he is at the door, and he wants to come in.'
While she was speaking the frog knocked again at the door, and said:

'Open the door, my princess dear,
Open the door to thy true love here!
And mind the words that thou and I said
By the fountain cool, in the greenwood shade.'

Then the king said to the young princess, 'As you have given your word you must keep it; so go and let him in.'
She did so, and the frog hopped into the room, and then straight on - tap, tap - plash, plash - from the bottom of the room to the top, till he came up close to the table where the princess sat.
'Pray lift me upon chair,' said he to the princess, 'and let me sit next to you.'
As soon as she had done this, the frog said, 'Put your plate nearer to me, that I may eat out of it.'
This she did, and when he had eaten as much as he could, he said, 'Now I am tired; carry me upstairs, and put me into your bed.' And the princess, though very unwilling, took him up in her hand, and put him upon the pillow of her own bed, where he slept all night long.

As soon as it was light the frog jumped up, hopped downstairs, and went out of the house.
'Now, then,' thought the princess, 'at last he is gone, and I shall be troubled with him no more.'
But she was mistaken; for when night came again she heard the same tapping at the door; and the frog came once more, and said:

'Open the door, my princess dear,
Open the door to thy true love here!
And mind the words that thou and I said
By the fountain cool, in the greenwood shade.'

And when the princess opened the door the frog came in, and slept upon her pillow as before, till the morning broke. And the third night he did the same. But when the princess awoke on the following morning she was astonished to see, instead of the frog, a handsome prince, gazing on her with the most beautiful eyes she had ever seen and standing at the head of her bed.
He told her that he had been enchanted by a spiteful fairy, who had changed him into a frog; and that he had been fated so to abide till some princess should take him out of the spring, and let him eat from her plate, and sleep upon her bed for three nights.
'You,' said the prince, 'have broken his cruel charm, and now I have nothing to wish for but that you should go with me into my father's kingdom, where I will marry you, and love you as long as you live.'
The young princess, you may be sure, was not long in saying 'Yes' to all this; and as they spoke a brightly coloured coach drove up, with eight beautiful horses, decked with plumes of feathers and a golden harness; and behind the coach rode the prince's servant, faithful Heinrich, who had bewailed the misfortunes of his dear master during his enchantment so long and so bitterly, that his heart had well-nigh burst.
They then took leave of the king, and got into the coach with eight horses, and all set out, full of joy and merriment, for the prince's kingdom, which they reached safely; and there they lived happily a great many years.

Akbar-Birbal stories - 11

Protection of the Footmark of an Elephant

Once king Akbar had a great quarrel with Birbal so he left left the place and went some 30-40 miles away in a village. There he started living hiding his identity.Now Birbal's position (Deevaan or Minister) could not be kept empty so the king appointed his brother-in-law (wife' brother) in Birbal's place. Although Akbar didn't like this but he had to do this to please his wife. Very soon the city got undisciplined and complaints started coming to the king.This was the time to test his brother-in-law's intelligence. So he went out to a Peer's Mazaar (the tomb of a saint). While returning from there he saw a footmark of an elephant. He asked his brother-in-law to protect that mark for three days. Baadshaah (king) went to his palace and his brother-in-law starting vigilance around it. The first day passed, the new Deevaan could not get any food; the second day also passed without any food. The third day he got very weak, but somehow survived. The fourth day he went to the kming and told everything to him.Baadshaah thought "I have to call Birbal back, I can't do with this Deevaan." So he found a way to get him back. He announced that there is some quarrel over a government well so all Zameendaar (owner) of nearby villages should come to him with their wells, otherwise they will have to pay fine of 10,000 Rupees (Indian currency).This order was heard in that village also min which Birbal lived. Its Zameendaar abused the king that "That this king has gone mad. Has anybody ever heard moving wells to other places? But if I did not go then I will have to pay 10,000 Rupees fine which is a lot of money."When Birbal heard this, he knew that it was a trick to find Birbal. He thought that now is the time to reveal his identity and keep king's words. So he explained something to the Zameendaar and next day the Zameendaar along with Birbal and some of his servants arrived in Delhi. They did not enter the city, they stayed outside the city and sent a messenger to king - "Huzoor, According to your orders we are here with our wells, now you sent your wells to welcome them."When Akbar heard this, he understood that Birbal was there. He asked the Zameendaar - "Who told this to tell me? Tell me the truth." The Zameendaar said - "Some time ago, a stranger came to stay in our village, he has asked us to tell you this." When asked about his form, it matched Birbal's. Then he sent his people to welcome Birbal and he was brought into the city with a great pomp and show. Birbal was again appointed on his old position.This time the king asked Birbal to protect that footmark of elephant. Birbal said "Done". He fixed an iron bar near the footmark and tied a 50-yard rope to it and told the villagers that whoever's house will fall inside the circumference of that rope his house will be demolished to protect that footmark."People requested him not to do so and gave him Rupees as bribery not to demolish their house. Thus he collected approximately 100,000 (1 Lakh) Ruees. He deposited that money in the royal treasury and told the king that the work is done and 100,000 Rupees have been deposited in his treasury.The king called his brother-in-law and said to him - "You were hungry for three days and gained nothing while protecting the footmark, but see, Birbal has earned 100,00 Rupees in one day only. That is why you can never be my Deevaan." The brother-in-law went away from there hanging his head down.The End

Milk for the Mullaa

One day the Mullaa Nasruddin was going somewhere. He met a man carrying a milk can. The man said to Mullaa, "Mullaa Jee, I have some problem, I want your advice." "Why not, what is that problem?" said the Mullaa eyeing on his milk can.

The man said, "Whenever I get up in the morning, I feel intoxicated. I don't know what to do, and I don't understand what may be the problem." Mullaa asked, "What do you take in the last before you sleep?" The man said, "Normally I drink milk."The Mullaa said, "Now I understood, this is your problem." "What is that?" asked the man perplexedly.

The Mullaa said to him, "Because milk causes the intoxication." "How?" asked the man innocently. Mullaa explained to him, "You drink milk before sleeping. In sleep, you toss around. So milk gets churned. It turns into butter, butter gets churned, it turns into fat. Fat gets churned, it turns into sugar. Then sugar gets churned, and it turns into alcohol. So when you wake up in the morning you wake up with alcohol in your stomach, that is why you feel intoxicated."

"So what do I do?" asked the man in simplicity. Mullaa said, "It is so simple. Don't drink milk. Here, Give it to me." Mullaa virtually snatched the milk can from the man and went on his way. The poor man stood there bewildered. He went to Birbal and got his milk back somehow.The End

Friendship Quote

Friends are God's way of taking care of us

Friendship doubles your joys,

and divides your sorrows.

Friends are like credit cards,

we need them forever...

Many people will walk in and out

of your life, but only true friends will

leave footprints in your heart.

A friend is like a four leaf clover, hard

to find but lucky to have.

Friends are quiet angels who lift us to

our feet when our wings have

trouble remembering how to fly.

A friend is someone who walks in

when the whole world has walked out.

Parents start you off on life

but friends get you through it.

Side by side or miles apart, good friends

are always close to the heart.

Good friends share good times,

but great friends divide pain.