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 am quite hot but become too cold if you remove the first two letters. What am I?

Asked by Neha on 24 May 2023


French Police inspects a room where there are no windows, no doors, no tables and is almost empty expect there is just a puddle of water. They found a dead man who obviously hung herself from the ceiling, but they are not able to figure out how this had happened.

John and Jacob entered the crime scene and easily able to solve the case.

How did the man die?

Asked by Neha on 09 Sep 2021

Can you identify the Oscar-winning movie from the rebus below?

Oscar-Winning Movie

Asked by Neha on 06 Nov 2024


What 4-letter word can be written forward, backward or upside down, and can still be read from left to right?

Asked by Neha on 14 May 2021

Make eight squares by moving only two matchsticks.
Note- Square can be of different sizes.

Make the Square

Asked by Neha on 12 Apr 2021

Consider this: Arnold Schwarzenegger has a big one. Michael J. Fox has a small one. Prince doesn’t have one. The Pope has one but never uses it. Bill Clinton has one and uses it all the time. What is it?

Asked by Neha on 29 Jun 2025


I am a five-letter word and comprises two different vowels and three same consonants. I am so strong that I can spoil your entire work.

Can you find out who am I?

Asked by Neha on 13 Dec 2024

What can run but never walk, have a mouth that never speaks, have a head that never weeps, and have a bed but never sleeps?

Asked by Neha on 05 Sep 2025

Three men in a cafe order a meal the total cost of which is $15. They each contribute $5. The waiter takes the money to the chef who recognises the three as friends and asks the waiter to return $5 to the men.

The waiter is not only poor at mathematics but dishonest and instead of going to the trouble of splitting the $5 between the three he simply gives them $1 each and pockets the remaining $2 for himself.

Now, each of the men effectively paid $4, the total paid is therefore $12. Add the $2 in the waiters pocket and this comes to $14. Where has the other $1 gone from the original $15?

Asked by Neha on 06 Sep 2021


Below is the sum of symbols in each row and column in the figure. Analyzing the figure, can you find out the value of the symbols?

Value of the Symbols

Asked by Neha on 12 Aug 2023

Hot Articles

Amazing Facts

Out of the Box

The phrase “thinking outside the box” was popularised from the solution to a topographical puzzle involving 9 dots in a box shape.