Birbal the Wise - VII
Situation puzzles (sometimes called lateral thinking puzzles) are ones where you need to ask lots of yes or no questions to figure out what happened in the situation. These are good puzzles for groups where one person knows the puzzle and answers the questions.
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?
One night, Emperor Akbar dreamt that he had lost all his teeth, except one.
The next morning he invited all the astrologers of his kingdom to interpret this dream. Birbal hadn't come that morning to the court.
After a long discussion, the astrologers prophesized that all his relatives would die before him.
Akbar was very upset by this interpretation, and so sent away all the astrologers without any reward.
Later that day, Birbal entered the court. Akbar related his dream and asked him to interpret it. After thinking for a while, Birbal gave a reply which pleased the emperor, so he rewarded Birbal handsomely.
What was Birbal's reply?
Answer
Birbal was an optimist in addition to being a witty and intelligent courtier. While the astrologers thought only of the negative possibility while interpreting the dream, Birbal actually found a more positive and diplomatic answer.
Birbal replied that the Emperor would live a longer & more fulfilled life than any of his relatives.
Hide
Comments
chidam11   
Jun 09, 2006
| Thank you Brainster, for allowing me to submit a teaser on one of your titles.  |
brainster
Jun 09, 2006
| Yay! We made it! The Indian collaboration worked! You're welcome Chidam, I hope your second idea gets accepted too! |
PunnettSwears  
Jun 09, 2006
| Absolutely clever. |
Swordoffury1392 
Jun 09, 2006
| It's really good chidam! Hey, I know a lot of birbal stories, could I submit one of them??? PM your reply to me please brainster!  |
spazzyjazzy93
Jun 09, 2006
| i dont really get it. . .what does teeth have to do with relatives?  |
chidam11
Jun 10, 2006
| It is just a wild belief. |
chidam11
Jun 10, 2006
| SoF I have PMed you regarding this. |
Thumper_rox
Jun 11, 2006
| the answer could have given more thought or changed the story a little.but that's and awesome story try again. |
ChristheGreat
Jun 13, 2006
|  |
jaxie9
Jun 15, 2006
| you had me  |
jaxie9
Jun 15, 2006
|
     |
kcheer2493
Jun 17, 2006
| whatever |
kcheer2493
Jun 17, 2006
| |
unklemyke
Jun 19, 2006
| A trulywiseastrologer would have advised Akbar that his dream was reminding him to make his biannual visit to the Royal Dentist |
senther7
Dec 30, 2006
| |
didida
Apr 21, 2007
| Loved it! |
(user deleted)
Sep 27, 2007
| I thought up another answer for this one:
"you will lose all your advisors, except one." this would work if you changed the story so that he has his advisors interpret it and fires all of them. |
luckypuppy
Mar 18, 2008
| Hmm he could have said just about anything... |
zembobo
Jun 04, 2008
| I like the answers posted here better than Brainsters. But any answer will do. Is there a better website for posting stories that anyone can point Brainster to? |
perrygf
Mar 15, 2009
| There could be tons of interpretations! I also thought of all the advisors dying except one. Cute solution, but too open-ended. Maybe you could add that in their mythology teeth represent relatives, or something. |
princess2007
Mar 08, 2011
| yup i knew this one! but i agree it would be a lil confusing to people who, u know, didnt get the teeth-relatives belief. *sigh*just another one of the many things i miss bout india.  |
Back to Top
| |
|
