Birbal and the Line

The Emperor Akbar loved to set his clever courtiers little puzzles. One morning, he drew a long, straight line across the floor of his court with a piece of chalk. Then he turned to all his wise ministers and noblemen.

“Here is your challenge,” said the Emperor. “Make this line shorter. But you may not touch it. You may not rub out any part of it, and you may not wipe away even the tiniest bit. Now then. Who can make my line shorter without touching it at all?”

The courtiers stared at the line. They scratched their heads. They muttered to one another. Make a line shorter without touching it? It was impossible! How could a line grow shorter if you were not allowed to lay a finger on it? One by one, they shrugged and gave up.

Then Birbal, the Emperor’s cleverest minister, stepped quietly forward. He knelt down beside Akbar’s line, and without touching it at all, he simply drew a second line right next to it, a good deal longer than the first.

And there it was. Beside the new, longer line, the Emperor’s line suddenly looked short.

“You see, Your Majesty,” said Birbal with a smile, “I have not touched your line at all. I have not rubbed out a single speck of it. I have only drawn a longer one beside it, and now yours is the shorter of the two.”

Akbar laughed out loud and clapped his hands, delighted, for Birbal had done it, and taught a fine lesson besides.