ANSWER:
The sons decide to go to a wise man to solve this issue.
The wise man listened patiently about the Will. The wise man, after giving this thought, brought one camel of his own & 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 9 camels
to the eldest son.
1/3rd of 18 = 6.
So he gave 6 camels
to the middle son.
1/9th of 18 = 2.
So he gave 2 camels
to the youngest son.
Now add this up:
9 + 6 + 2 = 17 &
This leaves 1 camel,
which the wise man took back.
MORAL: The attitude of negotiation & 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!