Cooking Khichri- Akbar and BIrbal

 One Winter morning , Emperor Akbar and BIrbal were strolling by the lake , the Emperor happened to touch the water in the lake and found it icy cold, He had a sudden idea. He called out to Birbal" I will give a thousand gold coins to anyone who dares to spend an entire night in this icy chill water". The challenge was duly announced and a poor man came forward to take up the challenge.
   The man spent the entire night in the freezing water and went to the court the next morning.
Akbar was astonished that the man accomplished the task . Akbar asked the man ," How did you survive the entire night in the icy cold water?" . The poor man replied, " Your Majesty , there was  a lamp on the fort's window. Throughout the night , I was looking at the lamp and kept myself away from the thought of cold."
  Hearing the man's reply , Akbar said, " Since you warmed yourself with the heat of the lamp, you are not entitled for any reward."
 The poor man turned to Birbal for help.
    The next day , Birbal sent a message to the court that he would come only after his khichri( an Indian dish) was cooked.  After a long wait , Akbar went to Birbal's house and saw Birbal watching his bowl of khichri cook hanging from a pole five feet above the fire.
    Akbar laughed at Birbal and said ," Birbal, your khichri won't cook, It's far from the fire."
    Birbal answered , " Your Majesty, this khichri will receive heat from the fire the same way the poor man received  heat from the lamp in the far off fort." Akbar realised his mistake and rewarded the poor man.

Story and Picture courtesy Mindmelodies publication
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Carrying the coconuts

  One day , a poor coconut seller had the good luck of gathering a lot more coconuts than he usually could. He loaded his horse cart heavily and started to the near by village to sell.
   As he was about to start he saw a boy standing near his cart. He asked the boy," Can you tell me how long it would take to reach the village?"
   The boy looked at he cart and said , " If you go slowly, you will reach very soon, but if you go fast , you will reach only by Sun down."
    "What!" exclaimed the coconut seller and smiled. He could not believe the strange logic of the boy. The coconut seller climbed his horse cart and started hurrying towards the village. He whipped the horse again and again to make it trot faster. However , since the cart was heavily loaded ,many of the coconuts fell off. The coconut seller had to stop the cart to pick them up. Then he hurried his horse even more to make up for the lost time, the coconut fell off again and once again , the coconut seller had to stop and collect the fallen coconuts again and again. By the time he reached the village, it was night and he had also lost some of the coconuts on the way.

story and picture courtesy Mind melodies publication
WWW.mindmelodies.com