Birbal and the Ownership of the Echo

Two neighboring landowners, whose properties met at the base of a rocky hillside known for producing a particularly clear, striking echo whenever someone called out near the boundary, fell into an increasingly bitter dispute over which of their two properties the echo actually belonged to, each insisting it originated on his own side of the boundary line and demanding the other stop "using" it without permission.

The argument grew so heated that both men eventually brought their case before the court, each presenting elaborate arguments about exactly where the sound first struck the rock and bounced back, treating the matter with a seriousness usually reserved for disputes over land, water rights, or valuable livestock. Akbar, faintly amused but unwilling to simply dismiss two determined citizens without a hearing, asked Birbal to resolve it.

Birbal listened to both lengthy arguments with a straight face before delivering his ruling: "The echo belongs to neither of you, because it is not a thing at all — it produces nothing, consumes nothing, and can be neither owned nor stolen, since it is merely your own voice returning to you a moment later. You have spent considerable time and genuine anger fighting over something that exists only for the instant you make a sound and vanishes completely the moment after. I'd encourage you both to save such determined energy for disputes over something either of you could actually hold in your hands." Both men, faintly embarrassed once it was put so plainly, dropped the matter entirely and returned to being the ordinary, friendly neighbors they'd been before a mere sound divided them.