Marytale
The Longest Line
- 2-3 min read
- 12 pages
- 6+
The longest line, an Akbar and Birbal story to read aloud. Make this line shorter without touching it, says the emperor.
Akbar liked setting his court problems, mostly because he liked watching them fail at things Birbal could do.
One morning he drew a line on the wall with a piece of chalk — a good long line, at head height, straight across.
«Make this line shorter,» he said, «without rubbing out any part of it and without touching it at all.»
The court thought about it. One man suggested that everybody stand further away, so that the line would look smaller, and was told that looking smaller and being smaller are different things.
Another proposed cutting a piece out of the wall itself, which would certainly have shortened the line and would also have shortened his own career.
One man said it was impossible and that the emperor knew it was impossible, which is a dangerous thing to say out loud even when it is true.
Text source: Traditional Indian folk tale about the Mughal emperor Akbar (1542–1605) and his minister Birbal. Public domain. The text was written anew for Marytale — it is not a reprint of anyone else's version.
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