Birbal's Khichdi (The Power of Hope)
On a freezing winter night in Delhi, Emperor Akbar remarked that a poor man would do anything for gold. A poor Brahmin stepped forward and stood in the icy waters of the Yamuna River all night long to earn a promised purse of 1,000 gold coins.
When the man arrived at the royal court the next day to claim his reward, Akbar asked: "How could you survive all night in that freezing river?" The poor man replied: "Jahanpanah, I kept my eyes fixed on the distant lantern burning atop your palace tower, and the thought of warmth gave me endurance."
Akbar claimed: "You received warmth from my lantern! The bet is void."
The next day, Birbal did not come to court. Akbar visited Birbal's courtyard and found him sitting beside a tiny fire on the ground, with a cooking pot of raw khichdi hanging from a tall bamboo pole ten feet above the flames!
"Birbal, are you foolish? How can fire reach a pot ten feet away?" laughed the Emperor.
Birbal smiled and bowed: "Jahanpanah, if a poor man can draw warmth from a small lantern a mile away across the Yamuna River, surely my khichdi will cook from this fire ten feet away."
Akbar recognized his injustice immediately, rewarded the poor Brahmin handsomely, and praised Birbal's unmatched wisdom.