One of Emperor Akbar’s fondest wishes was to win the battle of wits with Birbal. Akbar frequently tried to tease Birbal but unfortunately always ended up getting ridiculed.

When Akbar and Birbal were taking a stroll in the palace garden, Akbar suddenly said, “Birbal, I had the strangest of dreams yesterday, and I am worried it might come true.”

Birbal replied, “Do not worry, your majesty. Dreams rarely come true.”

“For your sake, I hope so, Birbal,” Akbar said.

“Why do you say so?” asked Birbal, intrigued.

“I am worried you might feel hurt if you hear about it. You see, in my dream, we both were flying over our kingdom when suddenly we started falling.” Saying thus, Akbar kept quiet.

Birbal knew the emperor very well. He thought, “His majesty is being unusually hesitant about divulging his dream. Did he have a dream, or is he just trying to test me again? Let me ask him the details, for it is obvious he wants me to.”

Birbal spoke aloud, “Is that all, your majesty? Why would that hurt me? “

Akbar replied, “Because it was not the end of my dream. Though we both fell together, it was in two different places – me in a puddle made of honey, whereas you fell into a muddy puddle. A pig standing nearby ran away from you. Can you imagine how badly you must have been stinking to chase away a pig living in the dirt? That is when I woke up.”

Birbal finally understood Akbar’s intentions. “So, the emperor wants to embarrass me, eh?” he thought.

Never one to back away from a battle, he said, “I had the same dream, your majesty. It was just a bit longer than yours. We both were flying, and we fell. While you felt in honey, I fell into a muddy puddle.”

Smelling a long-awaited victory, Akbar said, “That is amazing. What happened after that?”

Birbal replied, “When we came out of our respective puddles, I licked off the honey to clean you. Once I finished, you licked the mud from my body.”

Akbar was speechless. Flustered and amused at the same, he clapped his hand on Birbal’s shoulder and said, “Looks like once again, you have turned the tables and made a fool of me, Birbal. But beware, this only makes me all the more determined to win in the future.”

Laughing in amusement, they both continued on their walk.