Two Grateful Beings Story
King Akbar had the habit of placing challenges for Birbal. His witty solutions always amazed the King who appreciated Birbal’s intelligence. One day King Akbar made a strange request to Birbal.
He said, “Birbal, I want you to get me two living beings. One must be a grateful one who is ever ready to show his gratefulness and return it too and second, must be a person who takes the favours for granted and is never satisfied.”
“Yes…Your Majesty. I will bring them with me tomorrow at the royal court.”
Next day everyone in the royal court was curious to know who Birbal will bring. A little while later Birbal entered the court. He had a dog and his son-in-law with him.
He bowed low to the King and said, “Your Majesty, here are the two beings you had asked for.”
“Well, tell me about them, Birbal,” said Akbar.
“This is my pet dog Sheru. He is a grateful being. I give him merely a small piece of bread every day. In turn, he protects my house from burglars. He is always happy to see me when I return from work. Even if I do not feed him, he stays faithful to me as all dogs do. When people shoo away a dog after feeding once, the dog remembers this. A dog will be grateful for that one time and become a faithful friend. It will recognise you wherever you are and will come at one call of yours. He is ever ready to return the favour and show his gratefulness.”
“Go on, Birbal,” said King Akbar.
“This is my son-in-law, Your Majesty. As all sons-in-law, he receives gifts and favours from me, “the bride’s father” all his life. A wealthy father may come down to the streets and empty all his treasures, but a son-in-law is never satisfied. He expects favours all the time. He is grateful for a moment but then takes it for granted. He thinks his position entails the gifts.”
“You are quite correct, Birbal. I agree with you. Now I sentence this son-in-law to death for his ungratefulness.”
Birbal got scared at the King’s announcement. But as always, he used his wit and said. “Your Majesty, I was not talking about my son-in-law in particular. All sons-in-law are generally like this. Are you going to sentence all of them to death? And Your Majesty, you must not forget that after all, you are a son-in-law too.”
Hearing this, King Akbar and all the courtiers burst into laughter. King pardoned Birbal’s son-in-law and was as always impressed by his witty minister once more.