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

Jenifer and Jesica are having a conversation.

Jenifer: I am definitely not over 30.
Jesica: I am 28 and you are surely 5 years older to me at least.
Jenifer: No, you are at least 29.

You are told that both of them are lying throughout in the conversation. Can you find their respective ages?

Asked by Neha on 18 Jul 2021


Jim and Sarah are in a long-distance relationship. Jim buys an engagement ring for Sarah and wants to mail it to her. Unfortunately, the only way to ensure the ring will be received is to place a lock on the package. Jim has locks and Sarah has locks, but neither has keys for each other’s locks. How can they make sure the ring isn’t stolen?

Asked by Neha on 17 Jun 2025

What part of Turkey has the most feathers?

Asked by Neha on 30 Dec 2025


Distances from you to certain cities are written below.

BERLIN 200 miles

PARIS 300 miles

ROME 400 milesAMSTERDAM 300 miles

CARDIFF ??? miles

How far should it be to Cardiff ?

Asked by Neha on 25 Feb 2021

Replace the 'X' with any mathematical symbol to make the expression equal to 111.

18 X 12 X 2 X 3 = 111

Asked by Neha on 27 Jul 2024

A man is lying dead in a field where no one is around. His head is split open and his legs are disfigured. Near to him, there is an unopened package. No living organism can be found anywhere at the crime scene.

How did he die?

Asked by Neha on 04 Apr 2023


Akbar called Birbal and asked him to draw a line on the floor. He asked Birbal to make that line smaller without erasing it. Birbal smiled and did it before Akbar could blink his eyes.

How did he managed to do it?

Akbar Birbal line on the floor riddle

Asked by Neha on 07 May 2021

Find out the missing number in the picture attached:

Find the Missing Number

Asked by Neha on 10 Jun 2023

Out of three Friends John, Jacob and Jonny one of them is a king, one is a bureaucrat, and one is a Spy.

The king always tells the truth, the bureaucrat always lies, and the Spy can either lie or tell the truth.

John says: Jonny is a bureaucrat
Jacob says: John is a king
Jonny says: I am a Spy

Tell me, Who is the king, who is the bureaucrat, and who is the Spy?

Asked by Neha on 03 Feb 2024


John went to a parrot shop in Mexico, and the parrot owner told him that his parrot is so unique that he repeats everything he hears. John got excited and immediately bought the parrot. John went home and spoke many words, but the parrot does not repeat anything.
He went again to the parrot shop and complaint to the shopkeeper, but the shopkeeper never lied. Explain?

Asked by Neha on 18 Oct 2024

Hot Articles

Amazing Facts

Word ladder puzzle

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