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

If "P" means "-", "Q" means "/", "R" means "+", and "S" means "*" then find the value of the following:

21 Q 7 R 9 S 10 P 13

Asked by Neha on 16 Oct 2025


Can you think of any three-dimensional shape that comprises of exactly two surfaces?

Asked by Neha on 27 Mar 2025

Given below is simple addition with a defined pattern pattern:
7 + 7 = 2
8 + 8 = 4
8 + 5 = 1
6 + 9 = 3
10 + 11 = 9

Can you analyze the pattern and find out the answer for:

4 + 9 = ?

Solve the Addition

Asked by Neha on 05 Apr 2021


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

If two fifty-foot ropes are suspended from a forty-foot ceiling that is twenty feet apart, how much rope will you be able to steal if you have a knife?

Rope can be stolen

Asked by Neha on 19 Sep 2024

Take away my first letter, then take away my second letter. Then take away the rest of my letters, yet I remain the same. What am I?

Asked by Neha on 14 Oct 2021


In an office's desk, you find a unique method that shows the current day of the month. Two numbered cubes are used to depict the current date.

Can you find out the numbers on both the cubes so that each date can be mentioned using them?

Please note that you have to use both the cubes to display any date. Thus the 1st day must be represented by 01 and so on.

Asked by Neha on 14 May 2023

What are the next two letters in the following series and why?
W A T N T L I T F S _ _

*Hint: Check Puzzle Title

Asked by Neha on 12 May 2023

What do the following words have in common?

Assess
Banana
Dresser
Grammar
Potato
Revive
Uneven
Voodoo

Asked by Neha on 09 Dec 2025


The king of Octopuses has servants who have six, seven or eight legs. The distinguishing characteristics of the servants is that the one with seven legs always lie but the one with either six or eight legs speak the truth always.

One day, four servants meet and converse:

The black one says, 'We have 28 legs altogether.'

The green one says, 'We have 27 legs altogether.'

The yellow one says, 'We have 26 legs altogether.'

The red one says, 'We have 25 legs altogether.'


Can you identify the colour of the servant who is speaking the truth?

Servants with multiple legs

Asked by Neha on 09 Apr 2021

Hot Articles

Amazing Facts

Word ladder puzzle

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