The Spoon of Salt

One evening at the royal banquet, a distinguished guest took a bite of the palace meal and frowned. “The food is bland,” he muttered just loud enough for everyone nearby to hear. “It lacks flavor.”

Emperor Akbar overheard the remark and glanced toward Birbal, curious how he would respond.

Birbal stood, walked to the royal kitchen, and returned with a small silver spoon filled with salt. He handed it to the guest and said with a calm smile, “Here, please have this.”

The guest looked confused. “A spoonful of salt? I can’t eat this.”

Birbal replied, “Exactly. If you consume too much, the food is ruined. But if there’s none at all, it feels incomplete. Like salt, wisdom and truth must be used with balance too little leaves you unaware, too much overwhelms or offends.”

The guest, humbled, nodded in understanding. Akbar smiled at the subtle yet powerful lesson.

Birbal added, “Flavor in food, like judgment in life, depends not on excess but on balance.”

Moral: Even truth, like salt, must be served in the right amount balance is the essence of wisdom.