The Rooster Among the Hens

The courtiers were tired of being made fun of by Birbal. So one evening, when he was not there, they went to the Emperor with a plan to make him look foolish for once. Akbar, who loved a good joke, agreed to help.

The next morning he took the whole court, Birbal included, out to the edge of the royal pond.

“I had a dream last night,” he announced. “I dreamed that every truly honest man in my court could dive into this pond and come up with a hen’s egg. Let us test it. Who will go first?”

One by one the courtiers went down into the pond. Each of them dived under the water, and each came up holding a white egg, which he presented to the Emperor with a bow. They had hidden the eggs in the reeds the night before, of course.

Then everyone turned to Birbal. The courtiers were trying very hard not to laugh.

Birbal looked at the pile of eggs. He looked at the grinning faces. Then he waded into the pond, dived under, and came up empty-handed.

“Ha!” said a courtier. “No egg, Birbal?”

Birbal climbed out, stood up straight, flapped his arms like wings, and crowed at the top of his voice: “Cock-a-doodle-dooooo!”

The Emperor stared. “Birbal, what on earth are you doing?”

“Your Majesty,” said Birbal, shaking the water out of his ears, “all these gentlemen are hens. Hens lay eggs, so they have each laid one for you. But I am a rooster. And roosters don’t lay eggs. They look after the hens.”

The pond rang with the Emperor’s laughter. The courtiers stood there holding their dripping eggs and looking extremely silly.

“You were meant to be the fool today, Birbal,” said Akbar, still laughing. “But it seems I have a whole court of hens and only one rooster.”