One afternoon emperor Akbar was taking a stroll in his royal garden along with his ministers. All his ministers were praising the flowers blooming in the garden.
As the emperor stopped to admire the beauty of one particularly beautiful flower, one minister said, “Jahapanah, what a beautiful flower! Human beings can never make such beautiful things.” Birbal was also present there. He said, “No, you are incorrect. Human beings can make more beautiful things.” To this, Akbar said, ” No Birbal, I do not agree with you.”
After a few days, Birbal commissioned a skilled artisan to make a beautiful marble flower bouquet. Once finished, the artist presented the bouquet to Akbar. Akbar was very impressed. Praising the beauty of the flower bouquet, he gave the man a hundred gold coins.
The next day, a boy came to the court, holding a bouquet of uniquely beautiful real flowers. The boy presented the same to Akbar. Emperor Akbar was quite happy again. After praising the beauty of the bouquet, he presented the boy with one hundred silver coins.
Birbal was present on the occasion. He rose from his place, bowed courteously to Akbar, and said, “Hujur, you gave gold coin for the marble carvings and silver coin for the real flowers. So, as per you, the carving was more beautiful than the real flowers.”
Akbar understood that he has no response to Birbal’s wit.