The great Emperor Akbar was well aware of the adage “Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely” and observed this while discussing about a corrupt official made this observation.

Birbal disagreed.” Corrupt officials do not need any power to be corrupt,” he maintained. “They can invent power.”

Birbal was asked to prove his assertion. He then went to the bank of the Yamuna River with a bunch of bamboo sticks and some lengths of ordinary string. He stuck a couple of sticks into the ground at various points and made it look as if he was busy taking some critical measurements.

A curious crowd gathered and began inquiring about what was going on Birbal said nothing. People presumed that he must be busy with some work of the state and it could only mean trouble for the neighbouring area and the community. Without being asked, those in the neighbourhood started offering purses to the BIrbal, with a vague request to protect them. Birbal maintained his silence.

People assumed the purses offered were too small to set off the imminent threat and offered increasingly larger purses.

Why did people offer money ? What are the learnings ?

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