THE 18th CAMEL....

Subject: The 18th Camel

.......finding the common ground

The father left 17 camels as an asset for his three sons. 

When the father

passed away, his sons opened up the will. 

The Will of the father stated that the eldest son

should get half of 17
camels while the middle son should be given

1/3rd (one-third). The
youngest son should be given 1/9th (one-ninth)

of the 17 camels.
As it is not possible to divide 17 into half or 17 by

3 or 17 by 9, three
sons started to fight with each other. So, the

three sons

decided to go
to a wise man.
The wise man listened patiently about the Will.
The wise man, after giving this thought, brought

one camel of his own
and added the same to 17. That increased the

total to 18 camels.
Now, he started reading the deceased father’s will.
Half of 18 = 9. So he gave the eldest son 9 camels
1/3rd of 18 = 6. So he gave the middle son 6 camels
1/9th of 18 = 2. So he gave the youngest son 2 camels.
Now add this up: 9 plus 6 plus 2 is 17 and this leaves

one camel, which the wise man took back. 

 
Moral :

 
The attitude of negotiation and problem solving is

to find the 18th camel
i.e. the common ground. Once a person is able

to find the common ground
the issue is resolved. 

 
It is difficult at times. However, to reach a solution,

the first step is to believe
that there is a solution. If we think that

there is no solution,

we won’t be able
to reach any ! …