Brain Teasers
Birbal the Wise - II
Emperor Akbar once ruled over India. He was a wise and intelligent ruler, and he had in his court the Nine Gems, his nine advisors, who were each known for a particular skill. One of these Gems was Birbal, known for his wit and wisdom. The story below is one of the examples of his wit. Do you have it in you to find out the answer?
Once Emperor Akbar was sitting in his royal garden enjoying the morning breeze and looked up to the sky. On seeing crows flying above, he suddenly posed a question to Birbal, "Birbal, how many crows are there in my kingdom?"
Without missing a heartbeat, Birbal replied "64,532, Sire."
Akbar, surprised at this said, "Are you absolutely sure?"
Birbal said "Of course I am, you could get them counted if you wish!"
How could Birbal be so sure?
Once Emperor Akbar was sitting in his royal garden enjoying the morning breeze and looked up to the sky. On seeing crows flying above, he suddenly posed a question to Birbal, "Birbal, how many crows are there in my kingdom?"
Without missing a heartbeat, Birbal replied "64,532, Sire."
Akbar, surprised at this said, "Are you absolutely sure?"
Birbal said "Of course I am, you could get them counted if you wish!"
How could Birbal be so sure?
Answer
Akbar was baffled at this reply, because he knew no one could merely look at the sky and give an answer like that. He was sure that this time he had Birbal trapped!He immediately summoned his minister and ordered a kingdom wide census of the number of crows. The result of the census was 65,023.
Triumphantly, Akbar went back with this figure to Birbal and confronted him, "Birbal, the official census places the crows at 65,023. What do you have to say to that?". Birbal, not missing a single beat, came back with "Sire, the crows in your kingdom are currently entertaining 491 crows from other neighbouring kingdoms!"
Akbar, stunned for a second, burst into peals of laughter! Then he asked Birbal, "What if the census came up with 63,000? What would you have told me then?"
Birbal immediately replied, "In that case, sire, it would be immediately clear that 1,532 crows of our kingdom are being entertained by other crows of our neighbouring kingdoms!"
Thus, Birbal yet again proved his wit and wisdom.
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