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One day, a courtier entered the court with a glass jar in his hands.
“What is there in that jar?” asked the Emperor.
“Your Majesty ! Mixture of sand and sugar,” replied the courtier.
“What for?” asked Akbar again.
“Excuse me, Your Majesty!” said the courtier. “We want to test Birbal’s intelligence. We want him to separate each and every grain of sugar from the sand.”
“Look Birbal, almost every day there is a new challenge for you,” Akbar said and smiled. “Show them how to separate sugar from the sand without dissolving it.”
“No problem, Your Majesty,” said Birbal. “It is just a child’s play.”
Birbal took the jar and went out of the court. The courtiers followed him. In the garden Birbal scattered the sand and sugar mixture on the ground under a mango tree.
“What are you doing ?” asked a courtier.
“You will see tomorrow,” replied Birbal.
Next day, all went to the mango tree in the garden and found only sand grains lying on the ground. The sugar grains had been carried away by ants to their ant-hill! Some ants were still busy carrying a few remaining sugar grains.
“But where has all the sugar vanished?” asked a courtier.
“Separated,” whispered Birbal in his ear.
All of them laughed.
“If you want to find the sugar, follow the ants!” said the Emperor and all the courtiers began to laugh.