The Feather and the Brick

One peaceful evening in the royal garden, Emperor Akbar sat in quiet thought and turned to Birbal with a curious question.

“Birbal,” he asked, “Tell me which is heavier: a feather soaked in sorrow, or a brick made of guilt?”

The courtiers chuckled softly, thinking it a trick question. After all, a feather is always light, and a brick is obviously heavy.

But Birbal didn’t smile. He paused for a moment, then answered gently, “Jahanpanah, both are weightless to the hands… but unbearable to the heart that carries them.”

The court fell silent.

Birbal continued, “A feather soaked in sorrow may be light in form, but the pain it holds can weigh on someone for a lifetime. And guilt, though invisible, presses harder on the soul than any brick ever could. These are burdens no scales can measure only the heart feels their true weight.”

Akbar nodded slowly, the depth of Birbal’s words sinking in. “Indeed, emotional burdens often weigh more than physical ones and are far harder to lay down.”

Moral: The heaviest burdens are not carried in hands, but in the heart.