Birbal's Khichdi

It was the coldest winter anyone in Agra could remember.

The wind blew down from the hills. Frost sparkled on the palace gardens in the morning. And the water in the lake outside the city was so cold that it made your fingers ache just to touch it.

The Emperor's challenge

One morning, Emperor Akbar dipped his hand into the lake, and quickly pulled it out again.

"Brrr!" he said. "I don't believe any man could stand in that water for a whole night."

Then he had an idea. He turned to his courtiers.

"I'll give a reward of a thousand gold coins," he announced, "to anyone who can stand in this lake, up to his neck, from sunset until sunrise."

The courtiers shivered and shook their heads. Nobody wanted to try.

But a few days later, a poor washerman came to the palace. His name was Gangu. His family was hungry, and his clothes were thin and patched.

"Your Majesty," he said, "I'll do it."

A long, cold night

That evening, as the sun went down, Gangu walked into the icy lake until the water came up to his neck. Guards stood on the bank to watch him.

The night was long and dark and freezing. Gangu's teeth chattered. His body shook. But far away, in the window of a palace tower, a small lamp was burning. Gangu fixed his eyes on that little light, and thought of his children, and he did not give up.

When the sun rose, he was still standing there.

The guards helped him out and wrapped him in a blanket, and brought him before the Emperor.

"That lamp kept you warm"

"Well done!" said Akbar. "But tell me, how did you manage it?"

"Your Majesty, I kept looking at the lamp in the tower," said Gangu. "It helped me get through the night."

One of the courtiers, who was jealous and mean, stepped forward.

"A lamp!" he said. "Then he was warmed by the lamp, Your Majesty! He didn't really stand in the cold all night at all. He doesn't deserve the reward."

Akbar frowned. Then, to everyone's surprise, he nodded. "Perhaps that is true," he said. "No reward."

Poor Gangu walked out of the palace with nothing.

Birbal, the Emperor's wisest minister, had been listening. He said nothing at all. But that evening, he didn't come to court.

Birbal cooks his khichdi

The next day, Birbal didn't come to court either. Nor the day after that.

At last Akbar sent a messenger to find out why.

"Birbal says he can't come," the messenger reported, "because he's cooking his khichdi. He'll come as soon as it's ready."

The day after that, the same answer came back. "His khichdi still isn't ready."

Akbar was puzzled. Khichdi only takes a little while to cook! So he went to Birbal's house himself, with all his courtiers.

He found Birbal sitting in the garden. High up in the branches of a tall tree hung a clay pot full of rice and lentils. And far below, on the ground, burned a tiny fire.

"Birbal!" laughed Akbar. "Have you gone mad? That fire is far too far away. Your khichdi will never cook like that!"

Birbal stood up and bowed.

"Your Majesty," he said gently, "if a lamp far away in a palace tower can warm a man standing in an icy lake, then surely this fire can cook my khichdi."

The Emperor understands

Akbar stopped laughing. For a moment, he said nothing.

Then he smiled, a little sheepishly.

"You're right, Birbal," he said. "I was wrong. That poor man stood in the cold all night, and the lamp gave him nothing but hope."

That very day, Gangu was called back to the palace. The Emperor gave him the thousand gold coins he had earned, and said sorry for the delay.

And Birbal? He took his pot down from the tree, and cooked his khichdi properly, on the fire. And he shared it with the Emperor.

About this story

The stories of Emperor Akbar and his witty minister Birbal are some of the most loved folk tales of India. Akbar and Birbal were real people who lived in the 1500s, but these playful stories were made up and handed down by storytellers, and are told in many different versions. This version is a shortened, simplified retelling.