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Wie is de koning?

Dutch short stories – Learning Dutch through English short stories

Akbar and Birbal – Wie is de koning?

 

Once upon a time, Birbal was sent to the neighbouring kingdom as an ambassador. The king in the neighbouring kingdom had heard of the famous wit of Birbal. He wanted to test it himself.

In the evening, the King asked all of his ministers to come and see him. He gave every minister a set of his clothes and asked them to wear it the next day.

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Er was eens een tijd dat Birbal als ambassadeur naar het naburige koninkrijk werd gestuurd. De koning in het naburige koninkrijk had gehoord van de beroemde humor van Birbal. Hij wilde het zelf testen.

‘s Avonds vroeg de koning al zijn ministers om hem te komen opzoeken. Hij gaf elke dominee een set van zijn kleren en vroeg hen die de volgende dag te dragen.

 

The ministers wore the King’s clothes and came to court. The next day, Birbal came to the court and was surprised. There were twenty people all dressed exactly like the king in royal clothes.

Birbal walked across the first person and paused only for a second. Then he moved on to the second person and then the third person. Like this, Birbal walked across all the twenty people.

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De ministers droegen de kleren van de koning en kwamen naar de rechtbank. De volgende dag kwam Birbal naar de rechtbank en was verrast. Er waren twintig mensen die allemaal precies als de koning gekleed waren in koninklijke kleding.

Birbal liep over de eerste persoon heen en bleef maar even staan. Daarna ging hij verder naar de tweede persoon en vervolgens naar de derde persoon. Zo liep Birbal langs alle twintig mensen.

 

He bowed down to the fifteenth person and said, “My King, Akbar sends me to your kingdom to discuss about trade.”

The fifteenth person was the King. The King was very surprised and amazed.

He asked Birbal, “How did you know that I was the King? Have you seen me before?”

Translate

Hij boog voor de vijftiende persoon en zei: “Mijn koning, Akbar stuurt me naar uw koninkrijk om over handel te praten.”

De vijftiende persoon was de koning. De koning was zeer verrast en verbaasd.

Hij vroeg Birbal: “Hoe wist je dat ik de koning was? Heb je me eerder gezien?”

 

Birbal said, “No my King. I have never seen you before. There are two reasons. Of the twenty people here, the kind of confidence you exuded, no one else did. Everyone looked fearful and avoided my eyes. Only a true king would look straight into ones’ eyes. Secondly, you did not seek for anyone’s approval. Others kept looking at you for approval.”

The King gave Birbal a hug and gave him 100 gold coins as a reward.

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Birbal zei: “Nee, mijn koning. Ik heb je nog nooit gezien. Er zijn twee redenen. Van de twintig mensen hier, het soort zelfvertrouwen dat je uitstraalde, deed niemand anders dat. Iedereen keek angstig en ontweek mijn ogen. Alleen een echte koning zou me recht in de ogen kijken. Ten tweede heb je niemands goedkeuring gezocht. Anderen bleven naar je kijken voor goedkeuring.”

De koning omhelsde Birbal en gaf hem als beloning 100 gouden munten.

 

Moral: Confidence always shows when one looks into the other persons eyes.

Translate

Moraal: Vertrouwen blijkt altijd wanneer men in de ogen van de ander kijkt.

 

 

Hope you had fun learning Dutch through famous English short stories 🙂 If so leave a comment!!!

For more languages:

Learn German through Short stories: https://childhood-stories.com/German 

Learn Spanish through Short stories: https://childhood-stories.com/Spanish

Learn Italian through Short stories: https://childhood-stories.com/Italian

Learn Dutch through Short stories: https://childhood-stories.com/Dutch

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Learn Portuguese through Short stories: https://childhood-stories.com/Portuguese

Learn Portuguese through Short stories: https://childhood-stories.com/English

 

About: Studying through Dual Language immersion is among the best techniques for learning a new language. The objective of this website is to teach yourself how to read and speak Dutch confidently using English as a base 🙂 These Dutch short stories are super cool to read for beginners and also for entertaining children. Aesop’s Fables are among the best stories that can be studied on a daily basis.

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