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

What Time Should the last watch show in the below figure?

Time in the Clock

Asked by Neha on 21 Sep 2024


There are people and strange monkeys on this island, and you can not tell who is who (Edit: until you understand what they said - see below). They speak either only the truth or only lies.
Who are the following two guys?
A: B is a lying monkey. I am human.
B: A is telling the truth.

Asked by Neha on 16 Jun 2023

There are two dice with empty faces in front of you and a marker. You can mark any number on each of the faces of the two dice, but you have to display all 31 days of the month using the two of them.

Which numbers will you mark on which dice so that you can easily depict all the dates of the month?

Asked by Neha on 03 Apr 2025


Replace all '*' with digits 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 to make below statement true.

* *
x *
=====
* * *

Asked by Neha on 29 Jul 2021

What kind of storm is always in a rush?

Asked by Neha on 16 Jan 2024

I am never scared but became petrified and can’t live in a house but would die to make one. What am I?

Asked by Neha on 08 Sep 2025


A man is surviving on an island along with his friend. They have been starving for four days for food. Suddenly, they find a fisherman. The friend goes with the fisherman in order to catch the fish (if they can find any).

The fisherman returns after some time but he is alone and has some salmon that he had prepared. When asked, the fisherman tells him that his best friend fell off the boat and drowned in the water. Starving for so long, he eats the meal while crying for his friend.

After being rescued, he goes to a diner and orders salmon. When he eats his meal, he jumps and commits suicide. Why did he do it?

Asked by Neha on 22 May 2024

When it is alive we sing, when it is dead we clap our hands. What is it?

Asked by Neha on 22 Aug 2025

Find a 9-digit number, which you will gradually round off starting with units, then tenth, hundred etc., until you get to the last numeral, which you do not round off. The rounding alternates (up, down, up ...). After rounding off 8 times, the final number is 500000000. The original number is commensurable by 6 and 7, all the numbers from 1 to 9 are used, and after rounding four times the sum of the not-rounded numerals equals 24.

Asked by Neha on 05 Dec 2024


There are nine letters in the below-given diagram. You have to form a nine-letter word using these letters.

Word from nine Letters

Asked by Neha on 21 Dec 2023

Hot Articles

Amazing Facts

Gambling

In Canada, a mathematical puzzle must be solved in order to win the lottery to classify it as a “game of skill” not gambling.