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 few friends are enjoying their sea voyage in a boat full of apples. On the way, they felt hungry and thus decided to eat the apples. Together, they ate two dozen of apples. When they have eaten the apples, will there be any change in the water level?

Asked by Neha on 06 May 2021


I am a three digit number.
My tens digit is five more than my ones digit.
My hundreds digit is eight less than my tens digit.
What number am I?

Asked by Neha on 17 May 2021

What makes this number unique: 8,549,176,320?

Asked by Neha on 08 Jul 2025


The day before yesterday I was 25 and the next year I will be 28. This is true only one day in a year. What day is my birthday?

Asked by Neha on 07 Dec 2025

I go up and I go down.
I go up towards the beautiful sky and down toward the green ground.
I am present tense.
I am past tense too
Children love me.

Who Am I?

Asked by Neha on 16 Jan 2025

I have no doors but I have keys, I have no rooms but I have space, you can enter but you can’t leave! What am I?

Asked by Neha on 15 Mar 2022


What type of tree can I carry in my hand?

Asked by Neha on 04 Apr 2025

Which of the below owl is odd one out?

Find the odd

Asked by Neha on 22 May 2021

John was going on a jungle trip. He asked his wife to pack something to eat, something to drink and something to burn if he feels cold in the jungle. When John opens the backpack he found just one thing in the bag. What was it?

Asked by Neha on 28 Nov 2023


Your mother’s brother’s only brother-in-law is asleep on your couch. Who is asleep on your couch?

Asked by Neha on 14 Mar 2022

Hot Articles

Amazing Facts

Crossword puzzles

In the 1920s, people feared that crossword puzzles would contribute to illiteracy.