One day Emperor Akbar and Minister Birbal were walking in the meadows. There was a shepherd tending the sheep belonging to the emperor. Akbar noticed that the sheep were thin. " Emoy! You are not shepherding the sheep properly. Akbaru said angrily to the shepherd .
The shepherd trembled with fear. He humbly looked at Birbal as if to protect him. Birbal prepared and said , " Lord! No matter how much people or cattle eat, they are thin. It depends on their body philosophy, " he said. Akbar's anger doubled. " You are in the habit of denying my word. What is the difference between humans and sheep ? Well , let's take a sheep with us and feed it. Then let's see if the sheep is fat or not, " he said.
Birbal was trying to save the shepherd and got stuck. Thinking of a way out of that danger, he took a sheep and followed the Emperor. Akbar handed over the sheep to a servant and told him to feed it well with grass. The servant watched the sheep all day and fed it twice as much grass as it usually ate. He used to leave it in a shed at night. Birbal thought carefully and appointed a butcher to spend the night in the sheep shed. All he had to do was to keep the knife visible to the sheep.
The sheep was very afraid of the butcher's knife. There was no squinting in the eye at night. With that, the food that was eaten became more and more bitter. A few days later Akbar came and was surprised to see the sheep. Then Birbal was with him. You are right Birbal. But... I can't completely agree with you. What is the reason why a sheep that has eaten so much food is not fat ?'' he asked.
" Nothing sir , the reason why people and animals are not fattened is fear " he appointed the butcher.
He explained the matter. Akbar patted Birbal's shoulder appreciatively