Make the Line Sorter

Birbal was jester, counsellor, and fool to the great Moghul emperor, Akbar.
The villagers loved to talk of Birbal's wisdom and cleverness,
and the emperor loved to try to outsmart him.
One day Akbar (emperor) drew a line across the floor.
"Birbal," he ordered, "you must make this line shorter, but you cannot erase any bit of it."
Everyone present thought the emperor had finally outsmarted Birbal.
It was clearly an impossible task.
Yet within moments the emperor and everyone else present had to agree that Birbal had made the line shorter without erasing any of it.
How could this be?




Similar Riddles

You are in a land where thirty men and two women were dressed in classic black and white dresses.
They begin to fight as soon as any of them move.

Where are you?

Asked by Neha on 19 Jul 2024


John bought 150 chocolates but he misplaced some of them. His Father asked him how many chocolates were misplaced.
He gave the following answer to him:
If you count in pairs, one remains
If you count in threes, two remain
If you count in fours, three remain
If you count in fives, four remain
If you count in sixes, five remain
If you count in sevens, no chocolate remains.

Can you analyze the statements and tell us how many chocolates were lost?

Asked by Neha on 22 Dec 2024

John was gifted a new Hayabusa. He drove x miles at 55mph. Then he drove x+20 miles at 40mps. He drove his bike for 100 minutes. How much distance did he travel?

Asked by Neha on 31 Mar 2026


I add 5 to 9 and get 2. The answer is correct, so what am I?

Asked by Neha on 04 Aug 2025

I have cities, but no houses. I have mountains, but no trees. I have water, but no fish. What am I?

Asked by Neha on 25 Jul 2025

You are given a cube that is made with the help of 10x10x10 smaller cubes summing up to a total of 1000 smaller cubes. You are asked to take off one layer of the cubes.
How many remain now?

Cube Game

Asked by Neha on 17 Jan 2021


Three people are in a room. Ronni looks at the Nile. The Nile looks at Senthil. Ronni is married but Senthil is not married. At any point, is a married person looking at an unmarried person? Yes, No or Cannot be determined.

Asked by Neha on 01 Nov 2023

What does this rebus puzzle means ?

Rebus Picture Problem

Asked by Neha on 18 Jul 2023

Find the last number in the series below:

voN luJ yaM raM ---

Asked by Neha on 05 Jun 2023


A man is found unconscious in front of a store at two in the morning. His head is bleeding and there’s a brick laying next to him. When the police arrive, they carry the man to jail. Why did they arrest him?

Asked by Neha on 25 May 2025

Hot Articles

Amazing Facts

Crossword

The day before the 1996 U.S. presidential election, the NYT Crossword contained the clue “Lead story in tomorrow’s newspaper,” the puzzle was built so that both electoral outcomes were correct answers, requiring 7 other clues to have dual responses.