THE WILL
A father left 17 ducks 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 ducks,
The Middle Son should be given 1/3rd of 17 ducks,
The Youngest Son should be given 1/9th of the 17 ducks
As it is not possible to divide 17 into half or 17 by 3 or 17 by 9, the sons started to fight with each other. So, they decided to go to a wise man who lives in a cave.
The wise man listened patiently about the Will. The wise man, after giving this thought, brought one duck of his own & added the same to 17. That increased the total to 18 ducks.
Now, he started reading the deceased father’s will.
Half of 18 = 9.
So he gave 9 ducks to the eldest son.
1/3rd of 18 = 6.
So he gave 6 ducks to the middle son.
1/9th of 18 = 2.
So he gave 2 ducks to the youngest son.
Now add this up:
9 + 6 + 2 = 17 and this leaves 1 duck which the wise man took back.
MORAL: The attitude of negotiation & problem solving is to find the 18th duck 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!
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