Lawyers/Con Man and di Jackasses

 

A father left 17 donkeys for his three sons. When the father passed away, his sons opened up the will. and noted in their father's will, that all the donkeys should be shared among them as shown below:

• Eldest son to receive 1/2. 
• The second son to receive 1/3.
• The youngest son to receive 1/9.

It is not possible to divide 17 donkeys by 1/2, 1/3, and 1/9 without having a remainder. The sons could not solve that problem and they started to fight over the donkeys. They eventually decided to get lawyers and to take the matter to court. A known con man in the district offered them a simple solution. He told them that if they got three lawyers to represent them in court, that would end up costing them far more.

The con man came up with a simple solution. I have a donkey which I will sell you, and that would mean you would now have 18 donkeys. The con man outlined his plan. 1/2 of 18 is 9, 1/3 of 18 is 6 and 1/9 of 18 is 2.  The sons realized that 9+6+2 = 17. So they have 1 donkey left. The  con man looked at them and said, "Just give me back my donkey and your problem is solved".

The moral of the story is, when we fight over somethings, the lawyers or the con men will benefit. Sometimes it is best to work it out rather than fight it out in court. They could have saved themselves all this trouble and money by just giving one donkey to another brother who needed a donkey. Oh yes, the brothers fought over the donkeys and became the jackasses!

Note: I received a story about 17 camels and I decided to make changes to it and republish it. I don't know who wrote the original story. Please share it with a friend. Your friend might love it.