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

I have a clock(12-hour format) and both the needles of the clock overlap at 12:00.
After how much time, they will overlap again?

Asked by Neha on 06 Jan 2024


You have a roll of cloth 1km long. You have a machine which cuts this roll into pieces of 10-meter-long cloth.

How long would it take for the machine to cut the roll if each cut took 4 secs?

Asked by Neha on 15 Aug 2024

10 people came into a hotel with 9 rooms and each guest wanted his own room. The bellboy solved this problem.
He asked the tenth guest to wait for a little with the first guest in room number 1. So in the first room, there were two people. The bellboy took the third guest to room number 2, the fourth to number 3, ..., and the ninth guest to room number 8. Then he returned to room number 1 and took the tenth guest to room number 9, still vacant.
How can everybody have his own room?

Asked by Neha on 21 Aug 2023


What begins with T, ends with T, and has T in it?

Asked by Neha on 15 Oct 2021

On a bus, there is a 26-year-old pregnant lady.
A 30-year-old policeman.
A 52-year-old random woman.
And the 65-year-old driver.

Who is the youngest?

Asked by Neha on 12 Feb 2023

Once while in his court, King Akbar asked Birbal to write something on a wall that makes one sad when read in good times and makes one happy when read in sad times.

He took only a few moment and wrote something that fit the requirements. What did he write?

Asked by Neha on 10 May 2021


I have nine bottles of wine and one of the nine bottles is poisoned.
I need to find the poisoned bottle with two facts
(1) Poison is deadly, only a sip will cost death
(2) I have two mice to do so.

How should I do it?

Asked by Neha on 25 May 2021

Here is a conversation between a couple who both are software professionals.

Husband: Hey! What is your date of birth?
Wife Replied Angrily: It is 591062400
Husband after doing some calculations replied, "Got It".

What is the DOB of the wife?

Asked by Neha on 20 Feb 2025

A man dies of old age on his 25 birthday. How is this possible?

Asked by Neha on 13 Feb 2022


Can you count the number of matches in the picture below ?


Count the Matches

Asked by Neha on 14 May 2021

Hot Articles

Amazing Facts

Jigsaw puzzles

Jigsaw puzzles soared in popularity during the great depression, as they provided a cheap, long-lasting, recyclable form of entertainment.