One winter night, Emperor Akbar and Birbal walked by a frozen lake. The emperor wondered aloud if anyone could endure the icy waters through the night. Birbal replied that with determination, it was possible. To test this, Akbar announced a challenge: anyone who could stand in the freezing lake all night would be rewarded with riches.

A poor man accepted. All night he stood shivering in the water, keeping his eyes fixed on a distant lamp on the shore to give him strength. By dawn, he emerged, weak but alive.
Yet when he came to claim his reward, the courtiers argued he had used the warmth of the lamp’s light to survive, and therefore had cheated. Akbar agreed and denied him the prize.

The next day, Birbal invited the emperor and his court to his home for a meal. Hours passed, but no food was served. Growing impatient, Akbar asked why. Birbal smiled and said the khichadi was still cooking. When they went to see, the pot hung high above a small flame, far too high for the heat to reach.

Akbar laughed at the clever lesson. Just as the khichadi could not cook from a distant flame, the poor man could not have warmed himself from a lamp across the lake. Realizing his mistake, the emperor rewarded the man generously, and Birbal’s wisdom shone brighter than ever.