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

Today, I celebrated my 32nd birthday but I was born in 1972.
How is this possible?

Asked by Neha on 01 May 2025


You have a thousand Re. 1 coins with you. You have ten bags with you and you can put any number of coins in each of the bags. The condition is that if someone asks you for any amount between 1 and 1000, you must be able to give that amount by just giving the bag (you are not allowed to open the bag and give coins).

How will you do it?

Asked by Neha on 12 May 2024

In a mathematical quiz, you are asked the following question:

Use three 9s in a mathematical expression without dividing or multiplying to form the number one.

Can you answer the question?

Asked by Neha on 18 Feb 2026


Which country gets ill every time?

Asked by Neha on 14 Feb 2025

A Man gave one of his sons 10 cents and another son was given 15 cents. What time is it?
Hint: Figure out the relation between time and number, is not so easy..:)

Asked by Neha on 02 Nov 2023

Three playing cards in a row. Can you name them with these clues? There is a two to the right of a king. A diamond will be found to the left of a spade. An ace is to the left of a heart. A heart is to the left of a spade. Now, identify all three cards.

Asked by Neha on 17 May 2021


What is greater than gold but cannot be bought. it can never be sold and can earn if its sought. though it can be broken, it can still be fixed. for by birth it can't start nor by death it is ended.what am i?

Asked by Neha on 19 Mar 2022

If we add four times the age of John four years from now to five times his age five years from now we get ten times his current age.

How old will John be two years from now?

Asked by Neha on 19 Jan 2025

What jumps when it walks and sits when it stands?

Asked by Neha on 05 Jan 2026


A landlord calls both of his sons and tells them that their horses will now decide who will transfer the inheritance. He tells them to race along the land till the end and the one whose horse will be slower will win and be the heir to all the property.

Both of them keep wandering for days but to no result. Then they ask a wise man regarding it. The man advises them on the matter after which they jump on the horses and race as fast as they can till the end. Why did they do it?

What did the wise man say?

Asked by Neha on 05 Nov 2025

Hot Articles

Amazing Facts

Gamers

In 2011, people playing Foldit, an online puzzle game about protein folding, resolved the structure of an enzyme that causes an Aids-like disease in monkeys. Researchers had been working on the problem for 13 years. The gamers solved it in three weeks.