Crows of the Kingdom
One fine day, Emperor
Akbar and Birbal were
taking a walk in the palace
gardens. It was a nice
summer morning and there
were plenty of crows happily playing around the
pond. While watching the
crows, a question came into Akbar's head. He wondered how many crows in total were there
in his kingdom.
Since Birbal was accompanying him, he asked Birbal this question.
After a moment's thought, Birbal replied, "There are ninety-five
thousand four hundred and sixty-three crows in the Kingdom". Amazed by his quick response, Akbar tried to test him again,
"What if there are more crows than you answered?" Without any
hesitation, Birbal replied, "If there are more crows than my answer,
then some crows are visiting from other neighboring kingdoms".
"And what if there are less crows", Akbar asked. "Then some crows
from our kingdom have gone on holidays to other places".
Both Akbar and Birbal had a good laugh at the silly question and the
witty answer Birbal had given.