Akbar, Birbal First MeetingAkbar, sitting on a high-throne, received the folded portraits, and rejected them one by one with his cryptic comments. "No. This is not what exactly I am now." The poor Brahmin, Birbal, was waiting for his chance. He was the last to show the thing he carried on his arms. When Birbal's turn came, emperor Akbar piqued: "Are you like the rest of the incapables who have unsatisfactorily produced my portraits which don't exactly show me what I am now"? Thereby, Birbal without fear, yet in a tone of humility, barbed: "Portray, my emperor, into it and satisfy." Strangely, it was not a drawing or a painting; but a mirror opened from the folds by Birbal to show the emperor exactly what he was then. "The best replica of emperor Akbar." | 