A father left seventeen camels as an inheritance for his three sons.
When he passed away, his sons read the will.
It said that the eldest son should get half of the camels, the middle son should get one-third, and the youngest should get one-ninth.
The sons quickly realized that it was impossible to divide seventeen camels in these exact portions without splitting them. They began to argue.
They decided to visit a wise man. The wise man listened carefully, then added one of his own camels to the herd, making the total eighteen.
He then divided them according to the will:
- Half of eighteen is nine, so the eldest son received nine camels.
- One-third of eighteen is six, so the middle son received six camels.
- One-ninth of eighteen is two, so the youngest son received two camels.
When they added it up, nine plus six plus two made seventeen camels. The one remaining camel was returned to the wise man.
Moral of the story:
In problem-solving, sometimes the solution lies in finding the “18th camel” — a common ground that makes everything work out.