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

A pack of cards has 40 cards. You are blindfolded. Out of 40, 25 cards are facing down while 15 are facing up. You have been asked to divide this pack of cards into two decks - so that each deck contains an equal number of face-up cards. Remember, you are blindfolded.

How will you do it?

Asked by Neha on 10 Jan 2026


0 0 0 = 6
1 1 1 = 6
2 2 2 = 6
3 3 3 = 6
4 4 4 = 6
5 5 5 = 6
6 6 6 = 6
7 7 7 = 6
8 8 8 = 6
9 9 9 = 6

You can use any mathematical symbols in the space provided to make all above algebraic expressions true.

Asked by Neha on 24 Jul 2021

On rolling two dices (six-sided normal dice) together, what is the probability that the first one comes up with a 2 and the second one comes up with a 5?

Asked by Neha on 08 Oct 2023


As shown in the picture below, we can see a boy hanging on the tree branch to save his life. There are various ways in which he can die like1. A snake hanging toward the right waiting to bite the boy.2. A roaring Lion near the tree.3. Two crocodiles are ready to attack if the boy reaches near water. The tree is chopped to some extent, so can fall as if he moves a lot. Can you give this boy an escape plan?

The Escape Plan

Asked by Neha on 06 Jul 2023

Replace the question mark with the correct number in the below-given picture?

Number Riddle

Asked by Neha on 08 Sep 2023

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


A bag contains 64 balls of eight different colours. There are eight of each colour (including red). What is the least number you would have to pick, without looking, to be sure of selecting 3 red balls?

Asked by Neha on 30 Apr 2022

There was once a troop of 5 elves. The 5 elves were very dedicated on finding the magical treasure of 1000 coins. However, being elves, they were super geniuses, very greedy and they did not hesitate in taking lives of other elves. The 5 elves were named Aye, Bee, Cee, Dee and Ee, ranked from high to low respectively, from Aye to Ee. One fine day, their efforts brought results and they found 1000 coins. Now they had to split it in between them as per their ranks. The lowest ranked elf has to make the proposal. If the proposal is accepted by majority, it is agreed, or the suggesting elf is killed.

What proposal should elf Ee make ?

Asked by Neha on 14 Dec 2025

What is in seasons, seconds, centuries and minutes but not in decades, years or days?

Asked by Neha on 25 Dec 2024


There is a hypothetical state between the USA and Mexico border 'Tango'.
Here 70 percent of the population have defective eyesight, 75 percent are hard of hearing, 80 percent have Nose trouble and 85 percent suffer from allergies, what percentage (at a minimum) suffer from all four ailments?

Asked by Neha on 17 May 2024

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.