Birbal's Truth and falsehood

One day akbar asked his courtiers if they could tell him the difference beween truth and falsehood in thress words or less.
The couritiers looked each other at bewilderment.
"What about you, Birbal?" asked the emperor. "I'm surprised that you too are silent."
"nobody else has the answer," said the emperor. "So go ahead and tell me the difference beween truth and falsehood in thress words or less".


Birbal's solution

"Four fingers", said the birbal Four fingers?" asked the emperor, perplexed. "That's the difference between truth and falsehood,your Majesty," said Birbal. "That which you see with your own
eyes is the truth. That which you have only heard about might not be true. More often than not, it's likely to be false." "That is right," said Akbar. "But what did you mean by saying the difference is four fingers?' "The distance between one's eyes and one's ears is the width of four fingers, Your Majesty," said Birbal, grinning.