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

Can you figure out the logic I used to decide the order of the following words:
gun, shoe, spree, door, hive, kicks, heaven, gate, line, den

Asked by Neha on 11 Oct 2024


A solo dice game is played. In this game, upon each turn, a normal pair of dice is rolled and the score is calculated not by adding the numbers but multiplying them.

In a particular game, the score for the second roll is five more than what was achieved in the first roll. The score for the third roll is six less than what was completed in the second roll. The score for the fourth roll is eleven more than what was achieved in the third. The score for the fifth roll is eight less than what was completed in the fourth.

Can you calculate the score for each of the five throws?

Asked by Neha on 04 Jun 2024

When it's bad luck to meet a black cat?

Asked by Neha on 01 Mar 2025


What is the unique property of the following words ?
* Revive
* Banana
* Grammar
* Voodoo
* Assess
* Potato
* Dresser
* Uneven

Asked by Neha on 20 Aug 2021

I get hot but I never sweat,
I cook food but I am not a chef,
I have a door but you can't enter me,
I have a light but I am not a lamp.
Who am I?

Asked by Neha on 15 Feb 2021

In the Chess Board picture below white army is arranged. You need to add a black army on the board such that no piece is under any threat.
Note: Army comprised of 1 king, 1 queen, 2 rooks, 2 bishops, 2 knights, and 8 pawns.

Game of Chess

Asked by Neha on 14 Nov 2023


If 5 cats catch 5 mice in 5 minutes, how long will it take one cat to catch a mouse?

Asked by Neha on 13 Sep 2021

A beggar on the street can make one cigarette out of every 6 cigarette butts he finds. After one whole day of searching and checking public ashtrays the beggar finds a total of 72 cigarette butts. How many cigarettes can he make and smoke from the butts he found?

Asked by Neha on 29 May 2024

Can you think of a smallest +ve number such that if we shuffle the digits of the number, the new number becomes double the original number?

Asked by Neha on 25 Feb 2024


Using four sevens (7) and a one (1) create the number 100. Except for the five numerals, you can use the usual mathematical operations (+, -, x, :), root and brackets ()

Asked by Neha on 26 May 2023

Hot Articles

Amazing Facts

Word ladder puzzle

The word ladder puzzle was invented by Lewis Carroll, author of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.