The Whispered Word

One morning, Emperor Akbar heard a strange rumor circulating through the palace corridors something he had never said, yet somehow it was being spoken as truth.

Disturbed, he summoned Birbal and asked, “How does a simple sentence become a storm of confusion?”

Birbal replied, “Let me show you, Jahanpanah.”

He leaned close and whispered a harmless sentence into Akbar’s ear. Then, he asked the emperor to pass it on quietly to the minister beside him. That minister whispered it to the next, and so it went around the court, ear to ear.

By the time the final courtier spoke the sentence aloud, it was nothing like what Birbal had originally said. Laughter filled the room, but Akbar looked surprised.

He turned to Birbal, “How did your words change so quickly?”

Birbal smiled and answered, “Because mouths often move faster than minds. A whispered word becomes a twisted tale when passed without thought. Rumors grow not from truth but from carelessness.”

Akbar nodded slowly. “Indeed, speech must be guided by wisdom, not haste.”

Moral: Words, once spoken, can’t be undone speak with care, or truth may be lost.