Akbar and Birbal: The Shortest Line
- 2 minute read
- Ages 6-11
- Moral Stories
Emperor Akbar liked to test his courtiers, and he liked best of all to test Birbal, because Birbal was the only one who ever surprised him.
One morning he came into the hall of audience, took a piece of chalk and drew a long line on the floor, from one end of the hall almost to the other.
Then he turned to the assembled court.
"Make that line shorter," he said. "Without touching it. Nobody is to rub it out, wipe it, cut it, cover it or lay a finger on any part of it."
The court tries
The ministers gathered around the line and looked at it.
One suggested a cloth laid over the end of it, and was reminded that covering was not allowed.
One asked whether water might be poured near it, and was told that this was wiping by another name.
One walked the length of it and back and said, respectfully, that the thing was impossible: a line was as long as it was, and if you could not touch it you could not change it.
The others agreed. It could not be done.
Akbar looked pleased, and slightly disappointed, and then he looked at Birbal.
Birbal's answer
Birbal came forward, picked up the chalk and knelt down.
He did not go near the Emperor's line.
He drew a second line beside it, parallel to it, a hand's width away, running the whole length of the hall and well past the end of the first one.
Then he stood up and put the chalk down.
"There, Your Majesty," he said.
Akbar looked at the two lines.
His own, which had been the longest line in the room a minute ago, now sat beside a longer one and looked short.
Nobody had touched it. It had not changed by a single inch. And it was, unmistakably, the shorter line.
Moral of the story
When a problem looks impossible, check whether you have to change the thing at all. Sometimes you only need to change what it stands next to.
Questions and answers
- What challenge did Akbar set his court?
To make a chalk line on the floor shorter without touching, rubbing, cutting or covering any part of it.
- Why did the ministers think it was impossible?
They assumed that shortening a line meant changing the line itself, and every method of doing that had been forbidden.
- What did Birbal do?
He drew a second, longer line beside the first one without touching it.
- Why did Birbal's answer work?
The first line became the shorter of the two by comparison, even though it had not changed at all.
- What does the story say about solving problems?
That the way a problem is worded can trap you. Birbal succeeded by questioning the assumption everyone else accepted.
Word meanings
- courtier
- A person who attends a king or emperor at court.
- assembled
- Gathered together in one place.
- parallel
- Running side by side, always the same distance apart.
- unmistakably
- So clearly that there can be no doubt.
Questions about Akbar and Birbal: The Shortest Line
Who were Akbar and Birbal?
Akbar was a Mughal emperor of India in the sixteenth century. Birbal was one of his ministers, famous in folk tales for his wit and clever solutions.
Are the Akbar and Birbal stories true?
Akbar and Birbal were real people, but the hundreds of stories about them are folk tales that grew up over centuries rather than historical records.
What is the moral of this Akbar and Birbal story?
That the smartest solution often comes from questioning the assumptions inside the problem instead of trying harder at the obvious approach.
Why are Akbar and Birbal stories popular with children?
They are short, they always end with a clever twist, and the answer is usually something a child can understand and feel pleased about working out.