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

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


What is the unique property of the following words ?
* Revive
* Banana
* Grammar
* Voodoo
* Assess
* Potato
* Dresser
* Uneven

Asked by Neha on 20 Aug 2021

Take away the whole and some still remain. What is it?

Asked by Neha on 19 Dec 2024


Can you arrange four 9's and use at most 2 math symbols, to make the total 100?

Asked by Neha on 21 Nov 2023

What is the relationship between these matchstick pictures below?

Matchsticks Relationship Riddle

Asked by Neha on 09 Jun 2026

ENEMY = 2 * LINK
LINK + 2 = HELL

Then what will be TAXI + HELL? Select from the options below:
a) ROTTEN
b) DANGER
c) HEAVEN
4) MORTAL

Asked by Neha on 26 Aug 2021


O_er_t_o_

Complete the missing letters of the given word.

Asked by Neha on 22 Feb 2022

What is both possible and impossible at the same time?

Asked by Neha on 15 Apr 2022

John was born on March 5, 1970, in Delhi, India. Jacob was born 25 days before John. The year when they took birth, Republic Day fell on Monday.

Can you find out on what day was Jacob born?

Asked by Neha on 24 Dec 2023


There are six people in a family namely M, N, O, P, Q and R.

R and O are brother and sister.

N is the brother of Q's husband.
P is the father of M and grandfather of R.

How many male members are in the family?

Asked by Neha on 22 Oct 2023

Hot Articles

Amazing Facts

Crossword puzzles

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