Season 2 | Ep 14 | The Shorter Line | An Akbar Birbal Legend from India

Golpo | Stories From Around the World

I remember this story from a long time ago. Back in the day our favourite sport was doing better than a classmate. How can we outdo the other, a competitor on the sports field, in the classroom or on stage. We were all trying to draw our lines longer to make the others shorter.

I think the memory of that life triggered the thought behind this story for me. Perhaps Emperor Akbar had a similar dilemma on how to outdo the legacy of his ancestors, Babur and Humayun? That Akbar was called Akbar the Great is perhaps a testimony to his own decision to draw his line longer than that of the Mughal rulers before him. Who knows?

Listen to this story and tell me what do you think of it.

I am toying with the idea of an e-book with an accompanying playbook to help you make better use of these stories in the Classroom, LivingRoom and Boardroom. If you have been listening to these stories, I want your feedback!

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𝙂𝙤𝙡𝙥𝙤: 𝙎𝙩𝙤𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙨 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝘼𝙧𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙙 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙒𝙤𝙧𝙡𝙙 𝙞𝙨 𝙖 𝙘𝙤𝙡𝙡𝙚𝙘𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙤𝙛 𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙘𝙖𝙣 𝙗𝙚 𝙨𝙝𝙖𝙧𝙚𝙙 𝙖𝙣𝙮𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚, 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝘾𝙡𝙖𝙨𝙨𝙧𝙤𝙤𝙢, 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙇𝙞𝙫𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙍𝙤𝙤𝙢 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝘽𝙤𝙖𝙧𝙙𝙧𝙤𝙤𝙢. 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙨 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙢𝙚𝙖𝙣𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙧𝙞𝙜𝙜𝙚𝙧 𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙨 𝙖𝙢𝙤𝙣𝙜𝙨𝙩 𝙥𝙚𝙤𝙥𝙡𝙚.

Story Source | Adapted from Folktales from India by AK Ramanujan

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Until the next story...

Happy Storytelling!