As you all know, Emperor Akbar was
very impressed with Birbal's wisdom and greatly enjoyed his quick wit.
One fine morning when Akbar was especially pleased with Birbal, as a gesture
of appreciation, he promised to reward him with many valuable and beautiful
gifts.
However, many days passed, and still
there was no sign of even one gift. Birbal was quite disappointed with
the king. Then one day, when Akbar was strolling down the banks of River
Yamuna with his ever faithful Birbal at his side, he happened to notice
a camel passing by. He asked Birbal why the neck of the camel was crooked.
Birbal thought for a second and promptly replied that it might be because
the camel may have forgotten to honour a promise. The holy books mention
that those who break their word get punished with a crookedneck; perhaps
that was the reason for the camel's crookedneck.
Akbar soon realised his folly of
making a promise to Birbal for gifts and not honouring it. He was
ashamed of himself. As soon as they returned to the palace he immediately
gave Birbal his justly deserved reward. As you can see, Birbal always managed
to get what he wanted without directly asking for it.
