The Greatest Fool
- 2 minute read
- Ages 7-11
- Moral Stories
Akbar told Birbal to go out into the kingdom and bring back the greatest fool he could find.
Birbal was gone for several weeks.
The two men
He came back with two men and stood them in front of the throne.
"I asked for one," said Akbar.
"I found two," said Birbal, "and I could not choose between them, so I have brought both and Your Majesty may decide."
He pointed at the first man.
"This man was leading a bullock cart into the city. He had bought a heavy sack of grain and put it on his own head, and then sat on the cart with it still on his head. I asked him why. He said the bullock was already pulling him and it would be cruel to make it carry the sack as well."
The court laughed.
"And this one," said Birbal, "was standing outside a house at midnight with a lamp. He had dropped a coin inside the house, in the dark, and had come out to the street to look for it, because the light was better out here."
The court laughed harder.
The third
Akbar was enjoying himself.
"These are excellent fools, Birbal. Very good. Which of them is the greatest?"
"Neither, Your Majesty."
The laughing stopped.
"There is a third," said Birbal, "and I did not have to travel to find him. A man who rules an empire of thirty million people, with a treasury and an army and a court full of ministers waiting on his decisions, and who spent several weeks of a chief minister's time having fools collected for his amusement."
There was a very long silence in that hall.
Then Akbar started to laugh, and went on laughing for some time, and afterwards gave Birbal a gift for it, because that was the sort of emperor he was and that was why Birbal could say it.
Moral of the story
Birbal's answer only works because Akbar could take it. The story is about the emperor as much as the minister.
Questions and answers
- What did Akbar ask Birbal to do?
To travel the kingdom and bring back the greatest fool he could find.
- Why was the first man foolish?
He sat on his own bullock cart with a heavy sack on his head, believing it spared the bullock the weight.
- Why was the second man foolish?
He lost a coin inside a dark house and searched for it in the street outside because the light was better.
- Who did Birbal say was the greatest fool?
Akbar himself, for spending weeks of his chief minister's time collecting fools for entertainment.
- How did Akbar react?
He laughed, and afterwards gave Birbal a gift for the answer.
Word meanings
- bullock
- A young bull used for pulling carts and ploughs.
- treasury
- The place where a ruler's wealth is kept.
- empire
- A large group of countries ruled by one person.
- amusement
- Entertainment or fun.
Questions about The Greatest Fool
What is the moral of The Greatest Fool?
That the person with power is the one whose foolishness costs the most. Birbal's point lands because the emperor's time is everyone's time.
Why is Akbar not angry?
The story says plainly that Birbal could say it because of the kind of emperor Akbar was. The relationship is the real subject of most of these tales.
Is the second fool's story used elsewhere?
Yes. The man searching under the streetlight for something lost indoors appears in Mulla Nasruddin stories and in many other traditions.
What age suits this story?
Ages seven and above, since the punchline depends on understanding what a chief minister's time is worth.