Birbal Charges by the Word

A wealthy but notoriously stingy merchant had developed a habit of cornering Birbal at every court gathering with some private business question, extracting genuinely valuable advice each time while never once offering so much as a token gift in return, treating Birbal's wisdom as though it were simply owed to him for free.

After this happened perhaps a dozen times, Birbal decided to teach him a lesson without ever refusing to help outright. The next time the merchant approached with a question, Birbal answered warmly as always — but at the end, calmly informed him that his advice today would cost exactly one gold coin per word spoken, and proceeded to describe his fee schedule for all future consultations in the same terms.

The merchant, aghast, protested that wisdom freely given should remain free. Birbal replied evenly: "You would never dream of taking a merchant's silk without payment just because weaving looks effortless to someone who has never done it. My advice looks effortless to you for the same reason — because you've never had to spend years earning the judgment behind it. If you value what I say enough to act on it, you can value it enough to pay for it; if you won't pay, perhaps you don't actually believe it's worth much after all." The merchant, embarrassed, began arriving thereafter with proper gifts each time — and Birbal, satisfied the point had landed, quietly waived the fee for good, having never really wanted the coin, only the recognition.