Outwitting the Greedy: Birbal’s Clever Plan to Sell Coal
Stories for kids
Emperor Akbar's brother-in-law always wanted to take Birbal's place. Akbar knew that there was no one in this world so intelligent as to replace Birbal. Still, he could not say a straight 'no' to his wife's brother. He did not want to face the indifference of his beloved wife by doing so. That is why he gave a sack full of coal to his brother-in-law and said-
Go and sell it to the most cunning and greedy businessman of our kingdom - Seth Damdi Lal, if you do this, I will make you the minister in place of Birbal.
The brother-in-law was surprised to hear this strange condition of Akbar. He took the sack of coal and went away. But he knew that the businessman was not going to listen to anyone and on top of that he would cheat him. This is what happened, Seth Damdi Lal refused to give even a single penny in exchange for the sack of coal.
Stories for kids
The brother-in-law returned to the palace with a sad face and accepted his defeat. Now Akbar asked Birbal to do the same work.
Birbal thought for a while and then said that not only this sack of coal, I will sell just one piece of coal for ten thousand rupees to a cunning and greedy businessman like Damdi Lal. Saying this, he immediately left from there.
First of all, he went to a tailor and got a velvet kurta stitched. He wore diamond and pearl necklaces around his neck, wore expensive shoes and got the coal ground into fine Surma.
Then he filled the ground coal in a small shiny box of Surma. After this, Birbal changed his disguise and stayed in a guest house and put up an advertisement that a great Sheikh has come from Baghdad. Who sells miraculous Surma. By applying which to the eyes, one can see the dead ancestors and if they have buried any wealth somewhere, then it tells its address. This news spread like fire in the city.
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Seth Damdi Lal also came to know about this. He thought that surely his ancestors must have buried some treasure somewhere. He immediately contacted Birbal disguised as Sheikh and offered to buy the box of Surma. Sheikh asked for 20 thousand rupees for the box and after bargaining, the deal was settled for 10 thousand.
But the Seth was also smart, he said I will apply this Surma right away and if I do not see my ancestors then I will take back the money.
Birbal said, “You can definitely do this, let's go to the city square and check it there.”
Stories for kids
A crowd gathered to see the miracle of Surma.
Then Birbal said in a loud voice, “This Seth will apply this miraculous Surma right now and if these are the children of those whom they consider their parents then they will see their ancestors and will tell them about the buried treasure. But if any of your parents has been dishonest and you are not their real child then you will not see anything.
And saying this, Birbal put kohl in the Seth's eyes.
Then what happened was, the Seth opened his eyes scratching his head. Now he could not see anything, but what could the Seth do!
To save his honour, the Seth handed over ten thousand rupees to Birbal. And he moved forward with a sulky face.
Birbal immediately went to Akbar and told him the whole story while handing over the money.
Stories for kids
Akbar's brother-in-law returned to his home without saying anything. And Akbar-Birbal started smiling at each other. After this incident, Akbar's brother-in-law never asked for Birbal's place again.
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