Once Akbar told Birbal ‘Birbal, make me a painting. Use imagination in
it. To which the reply was ‘But hoozoor, I am a minister, how can I
possibly paint?’.The king was angry and said ‘If I don’t get a good
painting by one week then you shall be hanged!’. The clever Birbal had an
idea. After one week, he went to the court and with him he carried a covered frame. Akbar was happy to see that Birbal had obeyed him, until he opened the cover. The courtiers rushed to see what was wrong. What they saw made them feel very happy. At last, they would not see Birbal in court! The painting was nothing but ground and sky. There were a few specs of green on the ground. The Emperor, angrily, told Birbal ‘what is this!’ To which the reply was ‘A cow eating grass hoozoor!’. Akbar said ‘where is the cow and grass?’ and Birbal told ‘I used my imagination. The cow ate the grass and returned to its shed!’