Who’s the Greatest? is an interesting lesson that narrates two of the very popular Akbar and Birbal stories. Akbar would always pose interesting questions and problems in his court, and Birbal, one of his nine gems or ‘nav-ratnas’ never failed to come up with an answer, displaying his wit and humour.
 
In this lesson, one of the stories talks about Akbar’s question to his courtiers: “What should be the punishment for someone who pulls my moustache?”
 
While everyone called for strict actions for the grave offense, Birbal smilingly suggested that Akbar should give the offender his favourite sweets. After all, who would be so bold as to pull the Emperor’s moustache other than his own grandson?
 
The next story is about the challenge Akbar posed to his courtiers, who showered him with false praise and called him greater than God Almighty. He told the courtiers to tell him at least one thing he could do that God Almighty would not be able to do.
 
Here, Birbal came to the courtier’s rescue. He said, “When you want to punish someone, you can banish that person—you can throw him out of your kingdom. But God’s kingdom extends everywhere. The Almighty cannot banish anyone from his kingdom.” Akbar was pleased with the answer.
 
The humour and wit in the Akbar and Birbal stories are the reasons for their popularity.