Birbal and Akbar had a great relationship. Akbar respected Birbal's intelligence. There was a story where Akbar drew a line on the floor and asked Birbal to make it shorter without erasing it. Birbal simply drew a longer line next to it. This made Akbar's line look shorter. Through such incidents, Birbal always managed to impress Akbar with his sharp intellect and creative solutions.
Well, Birbal was a very intelligent courtier in Akbar's court. Akbar often tested Birbal's intelligence. One time, Akbar wanted to see if Birbal could really understand the minds of people. So he put a fish in a bowl and asked different courtiers what the fish was thinking. When it was Birbal's turn, he said the fish was missing its home which was the river. His answer was so unique and wise compared to others' silly guesses.