Who Pulled the Emperor’s Moustache?

One morning the Emperor Akbar came into court looking very serious. He sat on his throne, stroked his moustache, and said, “I have a question for you all. This morning, someone pulled my moustache. Hard. What punishment does such a person deserve?”

The courtiers were shocked. Pull the Emperor’s moustache? Each tried to sound more outraged than the last.

“He should be whipped, Your Majesty!”

“Thrown into the deepest dungeon!”

“Banished from the empire forever!”

“Trampled by elephants!” cried one, getting rather carried away.

The Emperor listened to them all without a word. Then he turned to Birbal, who had been sitting quietly with a small smile on his face.

“And you, Birbal? What do you say?”

“Your Majesty,” said Birbal, “I think the person who pulled your moustache should be given sweets. A whole plate of jalebis, perhaps, and some laddoos.”

The courtiers gasped. One of them laughed out loud. “Sweets! For such a crime! Birbal has finally gone mad.”

But the Emperor was smiling. “Why sweets, Birbal?”

“Because, Your Majesty, there is only one person in the whole world who would dare to pull the Emperor’s moustache and still be alive to be talked about. That is your little grandson, who was sitting on your knee this morning. And a little boy who pulls his grandfather’s moustache deserves a hug and a sweet, not a dungeon.”

The Emperor laughed with delight. “Exactly right. It was my grandson. He grabbed it with both hands and wouldn’t let go.”

He turned to the courtiers, who had suddenly become very interested in the floor. “And you would have had him trampled by elephants.”

That afternoon the little prince was given the biggest plate of jalebis in the palace. And the courtiers learned that before deciding on a punishment, it is a good idea to ask who did it, and why.