One day, Akbar, the king of India, was sent a gift of three identical gold figurines and a letter. The letter said that each of the figures has its own meaning and value.
Akbar called his advisors and ordered the differences to be determined. For a long time, scientists weighed them, measured their length, checked the gold standard, but were unable to detect any external or internal differences. They just shrugged their shoulders, admitting their helplessness.
Only sage Birbal did not give up. He found small holes in the figures' ears and inserted a thin gold wire into them. In the first figure, the end of the wire came out of the second ear, in the second - from the mouth, and in the third - through the navel. After thinking a little, he said:
— The solution to the riddle has been found. The first figure symbolizes a person who flies into one ear and flies out of the other. The second resembles a person who, having barely heard what was said, immediately rushes to tell it to others, without bothering to think about it. The third figure is similar to someone who remembers what he hears and tries to pass it through his own heart. This figurine is the most valuable of the three
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru