Marytale
The Stick That Grew
- 3-4 min read
- 10 pages
- 6+
The stick that grew, an Akbar and Birbal story to read aloud. A necklace is stolen, and Birbal gives every servant a stick of the same length.
A gold necklace went missing from a merchant's house, and it could only have been one of the six servants, and none of the six would say a word.
The merchant beat them and got nothing. Then he went to Birbal.
Birbal came to the house and had all six brought in, and he was perfectly friendly about it.
«This is not difficult,» he said. «I am going to give each of you a stick. Every stick is exactly the same length — measure them if you like.»
They measured them. They were the same.
Text source: Traditional Indian folk tale about the Mughal emperor Akbar (1542–1605) and his minister Birbal. Public domain. The text was written anew for Marytale — it is not a reprint of anyone else's version.
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