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JANUARY, 1926]
FOLK-TALES FROM NORTHERN INDIA
78. How Birbal capped verses. (Recorded by Hazari Lal of Agra.)
One day Akbar spoke the following lines and asked Birbal to cap them :
Jal to Gangajal, aur jal kah ré Phal to Amphal, aur phal kah rê
Bhog to stri bhog, aur bhog kah ré
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Jot men nain jot, aur jot kah re.
"Ganges water is best, all other water is naught. The mango is the only fruit, all other fruit is naught. Woman's love is the only joy, all other joy is naught. The light of the eyes is the real light, all other light is naught."
Then answered Birbal :
Jal to Indrajal, aur jal kâh rê
Phal to putra phal, aur phal kah ré Bhog to anna bhog, aur bhog kah rê
Jot to Surya jot, aur fot kah ré.
"The real water is that of Heaven, all else is naught. The son fruit is the real fruit, all else is naught. The real pleasure is eating, all else is naught. The light of the Sun is the real light, all else is naught."
Akbar was pleased and rewarded Birbal.
79. How Akbar was befooled. (Recorded by Hazári Lal of Agra.)
One day Akbar said to Birbal "Is there any place where, if a man goes thither, he becomes a fool?" "Yes," said Birbal, "there is such a village called Mogam, just across the Jamna, and I will take you there some day."
Birbal then went to the village and, calling up the elders, said, "The Emperor is coming here and you must make a verse in his honour."
One said, "I will say-Sab peran men bargad bar." Another said-Akash waki chutiya, Patal waki jar. The third-Hare harê patte, lal lal phar. The fourth knew no verse, so Birbal taught him to say, Akbar Badshah gidi khar.
Then he told them to be sure and present the Emperor with a basket of onions, of which he was very fond. When Birbal conducted Akbar to Mogam, he said, "You must go there bareheaded, as the people dislike seeing anyone with a cap or turban." So Akbar rode bareheaded, and on the way he said to Bîrbal, "Now am I a fool after all?" "Anyone who rides bareheaded in the sun is a fool," said Birbal.
Then the village-elders assembled under the village banyan tree and spoke the lines given above :
"Of all trees the Banyan is the greatest,
Its top is in the sky and its roots in Hell,
Its leaves are green and its fruit is red, The Emperor Akbar is a timid ass."
Then they produced the onions and presented them to Akbar, who was wroth and said, " Verily these are the greatest fools on earth."
80. Akbar's Riddle.
(Told by Janhari Lal Bania and recorded by Bhup Sinh, schoolmaster, Agra District.)
Akbar once asked Birbal to interpret the following riddle: "A lid above and a lid below, and between them a melon cut with a waxen knife." Birbal asked for time and wandered in the fields seeking an answer. He saw a girl cooking, and when he asked her what she was doing, she said, "I am cooking the daughter and burning the mother. My father has gone to mix carth with earth and my mother is making one two." When her
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