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

Which part of London exists in France as well ?

Asked by Neha on 17 Feb 2021


Three doctors said that Bill was their brother. Bill says he has no brothers. How many brothers does Bill actually have?

Asked by Neha on 01 Mar 2022

By removing one matchstick and adding one matchstick, can you convert the word "ZOO" to an animal name?

Zoo Matchsticks Riddle

Asked by Neha on 27 May 2023


Jigsaw captured 100 people and make them stand in a circle and all these people are labelled as Person1, Person2, Person3... Person100. He made them play a crazy game in which Person 1 shot Person 2 and pass the gun to the next person and so on until one stands alive.

Which person will survive in the end?

Asked by Neha on 23 Sep 2025

Mr Red Lives in the red house.
Mr Green Lives in the greenhouse.
Mr Yellow Lives in the yellow house.

Who lives in the Whitehouse?

Asked by Neha on 26 Apr 2024

All of the flowers I have are orchids except two. All of the flowers I have are hibiscuses except two. All of the flowers I have are roses except two.

Can you tell me how many flowers I have?

Asked by Neha on 28 Feb 2025


A man had five children. He had $100 with him to give to his children. He decided to start with the youngest child and then give $2 more than each younger child to his next elder child.

For example, if he gives $x to the youngest child, he will give $(x+2) to the next one, $[(x+2) + 2] to the next one and so on.

Can you find out how much did the youngest one receive?

Asked by Neha on 30 Sep 2024

In an Art Gallary, When the clock hit 11 am, Artist hung the painting number 30. When it struck 4 pm, he hung painting number 240 and when it struck 7:30 pm, he hung painting number 315.

Can you determine, which painting number will he hang when the time is 9:20 pm?

Asked by Neha on 18 Sep 2025

Christina is practising her dance steps along with her friends. In a particular sequence, all of them form a row. At that point, Niharika is standing in the 4th position from either end of the row.
Can you find out how many girls are practising together?

Asked by Neha on 10 Oct 2024


Two guards were on duty outside a barracks. One faced up the road to watch for anyone approaching from the North. The other looked down the road to see if anyone approached from the South. Suddenly one of them said to the other, "Why are you smiling?"

How did he know his companion was smiling?

Asked by Neha on 24 Apr 2022

Hot Articles

Amazing Facts

Challenging

There is a cryptic organization called Cicada 3301 that posts challenging puzzles online, possibly to recruit codebreakers and linguists.