The Woman Cheat Story
Once a woman came into the royal court and said, “Your Majesty! This man is a thief. He forcibly took off all my ornaments as I was passing by.”
But the man protested, “No, Your Majesty, she is lying. I am a visitor to Delhi. This woman met me on a road and said that if I accompanied her she would let me meet you. I wanted to see you so I followed her. I have not taken away her ornaments as she is accusing.”
But the woman started protesting loudly for justice and also started to cry. Birbal saw the King was confused. He thought of a plan.
He asked the woman, “How much did your ornaments cost?”
“Five thousand gold coins, sir.”
Birbal looked at the woman. She was a poor woman in dirty clothes. He was sure that she was lying. She could not have such valuable ornaments. Birbal called the servant and said, “Give her five thousand gold coins.”
Later on, as the woman left the court with the money, Birbal called the man and advised him something into his ears. When the woman had gone out of the court, Birbal asked the man to do as he told him. As the man left, Birbal asked his servant to follow both the man and the woman.
The servant followed them. He saw the woman holding the money clutched in her hand and walking fast. Soon the man went to her and tried to snatch away the money bag from her. But the woman held on tightly. The man tried hard but he could not get the bag from the clutches of the woman. But the man did not let her go with the bag of money and the woman was tired of fighting with the man, she said, “You come with me to the royal court from where I got this money and I’ll teach you a lesson.”
The man and woman rushed back to King Akbar’s court once more. The servant ran to Birbal and reported all that he had seen. Soon the man and the woman entered the royal court.
The woman said, “Your Majesty, this man did not let me go with my money bag. On the way, he followed me and tried again to snatch the money bag I had received”.
Birbal intervened and asked the woman “Did the man try to snatch the bag from you?”
“Yes sir he pulled real hard but I did not let go.”
Now Birbal grew very angry and scolded the woman, “You liar if this man could not pull away from a bag from your hands, how could he have forced you to give him the ornaments? You lied before and falsely accused a visitor to our city. You will be punished.”
Hearing this, she realized that she had been caught. She pleaded for mercy. King Akbar showed mercy and let her go. But she was not allowed to stay in Delhi. The visitor to Delhi thanked Birbal for his plan and went away happily.