Birbal the Wise - IV
Logic puzzles require you to think. You will have to be logical in your reasoning.
Emperor Akbar once ruled over India. He was a wise and intelligent ruler, and he had in his court the Nine Gems, his nine advisors, who were each known for a particular skill. One of these Gems was Birbal, known for his wit and wisdom. The story below is one of the examples of his wit. Do you have it in you to find out the answer?
There was once a blacksmith who used to make spears and shields. He came to Emperor Akbar's court and claimed - "Your Majesty, nobody can make shields and spears like mine. My shields are so strong that nothing can pierce them and my spears are so sharp that there is nothing they cannot pierce."
On hearing this statement, Birbal immediately said, "You lie and I can prove that you are lying." What did he find wrong with the man's statement?
Answer
Birbal told the man - "I can prove you wrong. Let's do a simple test."
The man, supremely confident, agreed.
Birbal said smilingly - "OK, hold up one of your shields and I will pierce it with one of your spears."
The man realized he had been outwitted because both his statements could never be true at the same time. Only one of his statements would hold true under any situation. Shamed to silence, he quietly left the court.
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Comments
fem81uk  
May 14, 2006
| I cant believe I didnt get that one, so obvious when you think about it |
Swordoffury1392  
May 14, 2006
| I really like these. More please!  |
blagh
May 14, 2006
| That's a nice easy one... |
jazzmusician46
May 15, 2006
| That was too obvious |
kayleeskitties
May 17, 2006
| Very good! I totally missed it! Can't believe I missed it!!! |
qqqq
May 29, 2006
| Wow!! I got it!! GREAT teaser!! I loved it. Going in my favorites for sure! |
marching_xc 
May 31, 2006
| Definitely the most clever of the Birbal series. |
brainster
May 31, 2006
| Thank you for the nice and thoughtful comments y'all! |
didida
Jun 02, 2006
| That was great! It was easy but great! |
geofreak2010
Jun 23, 2006
| A bit too easy. |
OldChinaHand
Jun 23, 2006
| Wisdom from the past is never wasted. Good job. Fun and insightful.  |
pating
Jun 23, 2006
| Fun, but too easy for me! |
saleprice
Jun 23, 2006
| very good, got this one straight away tho`. thx anyway....  |
(user deleted)
Jun 23, 2006
| the anwer is logical hence it was an easy puzzle. |
peanut-tiara
Jun 23, 2006
| Fun & Easy. |
destinysmom
Jun 23, 2006
| Fun but a little to easy didn't have to think to get it.  |
ticaboo
Jun 23, 2006
| Good teaser - but easy...  |
coachpisco
Jun 23, 2006
| This was a bit easy, but it off-sets those that I find impossible to do. Thanks for the teaser. |
locutus13ds
Jun 23, 2006
| Easy one. But still stimulating |
kcheer2493
Jun 23, 2006
| How in the world did I miss that? That was very creative and good. Great job! |
kman613
Jun 23, 2006
| Very easy, but fun/witty. |
nu_rob_roy
Jun 23, 2006
| Easily bored, for sure I wasn't. A good tale turned into a good teaser. |
Neek
Jun 23, 2006
| Nice! Very easy, but it feels good to get one. |
Trishgal
Jun 23, 2006
| it Was easy ,but I DiDNOT get it  Maybe I was trying to think to hard. Seemed so obvios afteriread the answer  |
kittendoodles
Jun 23, 2006
| I got it in a split second. A little obvious. |
PugLover101
Jun 23, 2006
| Ones like these make you think a little, or at least I didn't have to think much... It makes sense 'cause if one cannot be pierced and the other can pierce anything... it make no sense whatsoever. So that was cool... and easy! |
Pablo
Jun 23, 2006
| Sir Issac Newton came up with same teaser 400 years ago when he asked.
"What happens when an irresistible force meets an immovable object"
Good one, but a bit late!
No offence meant! |
FatHead
Jun 23, 2006
| Wow, irresistible force vs. immovable object. |
starnz
Jun 23, 2006
| Good Job! So easy, it was HARD!!!! |
bandnerdnproud7
Jun 23, 2006
| This was pretty easy. I actually thought that there was a type-o or something because it was too easy. It was still a pretty good teaser! |
Umizaki
Jun 23, 2006
| way to easy |
syracuse945
Jun 23, 2006
| haha, nysss...
|
mmmcla01
Jun 23, 2006
| Very Simple, but fun nonetheless. |
Amali
Jun 23, 2006
| Loved got after I read it a few times but very fun keep em comin |
feste
Jun 23, 2006
| As demse as I am I figured that one with no strain on my limited facilites |
xxilove_ihatexx
Jun 23, 2006
| wayy too easy.. but i like the easy ones.. they're c00l...... . pm me!!!!!! |
luigibabe
Jun 23, 2006
| Very easy, but I like telling this kind of thing to kids and this one will be do-able for them... so I like it |
(user deleted)
Jun 23, 2006
| I actually got it rather quickly. How refreshing! Thanx for putting an easy one out there for me! Got others? |
Cableguy
Jun 23, 2006
| Easy peasy, lemon squeezy! But loads of fun... encore! |
brainmaster911
Jun 23, 2006
| i can't beleave i missed the anwser good one |
dan1234
Jun 23, 2006
| Witty! |
nightowl19
Jun 23, 2006
| Love this kind; more please! |
scallio
Jun 23, 2006
| Very easy, but fun!
THANKS for a good story.
|
DufusX
Jun 23, 2006
| that was heck easy nice though |
smartypants102
Jun 23, 2006
| pretty fun and original but WAY too easy! |
tedger
Jun 23, 2006
|  Easy  but fun |
RRAMMOHAN
Jun 23, 2006
| Got it! A nice one. However, I wonder if I would have seen through the contradictory claim, had I heard it otherwise than as a teaser! |
POPS
Jun 23, 2006
| Had to read it twice and all of a sudden!!!!! BANG I got it .Quite easy but fun, Good job. |
HScott13
Jun 23, 2006
| Too easy |
ripsawman
Jun 23, 2006
| for someone who hardly never gets it.... I got that one, fun but easy |
mercenary007
Jun 23, 2006
| way way way too easy... nice little story though |
jabdr
Jun 23, 2006
| |
jessmr
Jun 23, 2006
| i finally got one. been having too many croonerisms and letter pairs ones lately, thanks for a good one i could do!! |
lmurray 
Jun 23, 2006
| FUN. EVIDENTLY EASY. BIRBAL IS MY KIND OF GUY, BUT A LITTLE ARROGANT. |
tdbrsun
Jun 23, 2006
| I finally got one also. I thought just a bit. It was fun to do an easier but very clever teaser! |
underherfeet
Jun 23, 2006
| A redundant statement completely, same as what happens, when the greatest force, meets an object, that cannot be moved, obliteration!
John |
banzai
Jun 23, 2006
| i looked for the double negative first, than got the obvious answer first. thank you. |
OldChinaHand
Jun 23, 2006
| These Birbal (Raja Birbal -1528-1586) tales from the oral traditions of India were old and well recognized in Sir Isaac Newton, (1642 – 1727) times. |
vlerma
Jun 23, 2006
| OCH, thanks so much for the update between Newton and Birbal. Good information. And Brainster, sure it was a little easy but very good none the less. Loved the story. And Imurray, thank you. |
Buckeye
Jun 23, 2006
| Way too easy. |
daddys_lil_girl
Jun 23, 2006
| not 2 b mean...but next time get somethin more challenging!!!!! it wuz reallly good though!!! |
Pablo
Jun 24, 2006
| Loved the story. Sir Issac was probably better at math but your prose is certainly superior. |
bluehawk
Jun 24, 2006
| OH BRAINSTER, THAT ONE WAS TOO CUTE AND EASY. IF THE SPEAR WAS SO SHARP, THEN IT COULD PERICE THE SHIELD.
I LIKED IT!!!!
IT WAS ALL IN THE WORDING THAT GAVE IT AWAY.
"VERY ENJOYABLE" |
JeffJ99
Jun 24, 2006
| Fun, but too easy. Sometimes with a teaser like this you might miss it because you expect it to be hard. Anyway, good try! |
doka13
Jun 24, 2006
| easy. cute too! |
Unraveled
Jun 25, 2006
| Really easy. It was fun to read the story, though. |
cassiemark
Jun 27, 2006
| Easy! I liked that one - didn't require me to burn my brain cells! Thanks |
Quickq
Jun 29, 2006
| I can't belive I got that wrong.  |
cyberstar5150
Jun 30, 2006
| I got this right away.
I |
keke9307
Jun 30, 2006
| got it very quickly but liked it like to see more |
HiImDavid
Jul 08, 2006
| Too easy... |
monkeygrl99
Jul 18, 2006
| Yeah.. |
simplysweet
Jul 21, 2006
| easy but funny!! |
(user deleted)
Aug 28, 2006
| that was a good one ... keep 'em coming!! |
senther7
Dec 30, 2006
| *clap clap*
good job! |
nerdyiscool
Mar 17, 2007
| yay i got it again! i really really like the birbal riddles they are so super super fun! |
Jessrox97
Sep 28, 2007
| I burst out laghing when I read what the guy said. |
Radioguy
Apr 17, 2008
| Nice |
zigthepig
Jun 23, 2009
| teaser of the day teaser of the day |
doehead
Jun 23, 2009
| If you didn't figure this one out in two seconds,you are brain dead!!!  |
chotpeper
Jun 23, 2009
| you have a gtreat build up to the story but you made it way ot easy. next time try to be a little more trivial. i could see this one before i was half way threw the last paragraph. maybe i have seen it to many times in similair questions |
auntiesis
Jun 23, 2009
| Easy, but cute. Enjoyed the story. |
millie
Jun 23, 2009
|
Very easy, the blacksmith con-
tradicted himself. |
tova_l
Jun 23, 2009
| great quiz, i got it rit away!!!! pretty good cuz i never get ANYTHING!!!!!! |
here2
Jun 23, 2009
| Easy, but fun. thanks. |
UptheHill
Jun 23, 2009
| |
rt1819
Jun 23, 2009
| I thought he was going to ask the guy if the spear could pierce HIM!!! |
VitalStatistic
Jun 23, 2009
| I got it straight away. It's the old irresistable force meets an immovable object trick
I think it would have been better phrased if the question were "How did Birbal prove the blacksmith was lying?"
Still a nice teaser though |
Candi7
Jun 17, 2012
| Easiest in my opinion of all the Birbal teasers. |
cutebug
Jun 23, 2012
| WOW!!! THAT ONE WAS A TOUGH ONE. IT TOOK AT LEAST 3 SECONDS TO FIGURE IT OUT!!! |
JQPublic
Jun 23, 2012
| While this might have been a great teaser for me if I had not known the answer already, I really doubt the authenticity of this teaser. Chinese records (Han Feizi if I remember correctly) show that this story happened during the Zhou Dynasty of China - way before Akbar's time. In fact, the Chinese word for contradiction - maodun - comes from this story, as does the idiom zixiang maodun, meaning self-contradiction. I didn't vote on this teaser since I know I can't be fair on it. |
math321
Jun 23, 2012
| It's a teaser, not a history lesson. |
Babe
Jun 23, 2012
| What is wrong with a history lesson? I am always open to learn something and I love smart people that know those things!!! |
DarylK
Jun 24, 2012
| rofl... |
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