Birbal The Wise - XVII
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 the answer?
Once, Birbal was invited to Persia by the Persian king. He was honoured with celebrations in his honour and many presents and gifts were heaped on him.
After a few days of revelry and enjoyment, it was time to head back home. On the eve of his departure, a nobleman of Persia asked him how he would describe the king of Persia in comparison to his own king.
"Your king is the full moon," said Birbal. "Whereas mine is like the quarter moon."
The Persians were very happy with this answer and sent Birbal off with great pomp and gaiety.
But when Birbal got home, he found that Emperor Akbar was furious. It was obvious that information about his "praise" of the Persian king had preceded his own arrival.
"How could you belittle your own king?" demanded a furious Emperor Akbar. "You are a traitor!"
Birbal objected to this and said that he had, in fact, praised his own king! How did Birbal explain this to the king?
Answer
"No, Your Majesty," said Birbal. "I did not belittle you. The full moon diminishes and ultimately disappears whereas the quarter moon grows from strength to strength. What I, in fact, proclaimed to the world is that your power is growing from day to day whereas that of the king of Persia is declining."
Akbar was overjoyed at this answer and welcomed Birbal back with a royal embrace and a celebration in his honour.
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Comments
GebbieRose   
Jun 01, 2007
| One of my favorite Birbals!  |
cecepeach83
Jun 01, 2007
| Yay for Birbal! I actually got that one.  |
HarryPutter   
Jun 01, 2007
| ya i saw this in queue and i though this was really good i anted to tell my friend it but i had already reviewed it so i couldnt go back now i can show him nice teaser(my friend loves the biral teasers) |
jamy400   
Jun 01, 2007
| I liked this one even though I didn't get the answer.  |
nerdyiscool   
Jun 02, 2007
| When I saw that there was a new Birbal, I was sooo excited! I love these, and keep 'em coming!  |
tennisfreak4eva   
Jun 04, 2007
| nice teaser.............keep em cummin!  |
liser   
Jun 05, 2007
| Well done! Now, I have to go look for the other ones in this series.  |
_brynn  
Jun 07, 2007
| haha this was cool, im definatly going to look for the other birbals  |
violinist3746   
Jun 07, 2007
| loved this Birbal teaser, love the others too! |
batatis   
Jun 18, 2007
| YAY THIS IS MY 500TH TEASER VOTE!!!!!! cool  |
suebaby  
Jun 19, 2007
| good thought provoker!!!  |
flowergirl1219   
Jun 28, 2007
| Don't forget to send me a message saying what subject you want me to do on a quiz!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  |
circleheadedguy  
Jul 12, 2007
| Oooohh, i got it right...  |
achilles3  
Jun 18, 2008
| too bad, i read this story  |
KarateGirl098   
Sep 21, 2008
| Got me. Good one! |
mathisnice   
Aug 07, 2009
| Good one! |
crocodile   
Nov 27, 2009
| I love Birbal! He makes me look like an idiot!  |
doctapeppaman   
Aug 17, 2011
| I guess this presupposes that he was referring to first quarter as opposed to last quarter? |
dawnrising   
Dec 16, 2011
| AWESOME TEASER!!! can't believe I got the answer right  |
DarylK  
Jun 24, 2012
| Let's not forget that full moons are significantly less frequent than quarter moons, suggesting that Bribal meant that his King is there for his people more than that of the Persian King's to his. |
Joose  
Nov 04, 2012
| I love Birbal. |
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