17 Camels and 3 Sons

 The story we have adapted, “Beasts of Burden,” was taken from Malba Tahan’s book called “The Man Who Counted”.   Malba Tahan was the pen name of Brazilian Author Julio Cesar de Mello e Souza.  

17 Camels and 3 Sons

A man left 17 camels for his 3 sons. When the father passed away, the sons opened up the will. The Father had written that the oldest son should get half of the 17 camels, the middle son should be given 1/3 of the 17 camels and the youngest son should be given 1/9 of the 17 camels.

As it is not possible to divide 17 into half, 17 by 3 or 17 by 9, the three sons began to fight.

The three sons decided to go to the wise man to solve the problem.

The wise man listened patiently to each son. The wise man, after giving this thought, brought one camel of his own & added it to the 17 camels. That increased the total to 18 camels.

Now, he started reading the 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

There is then one camel left, which the wise man took back and went home. The three sons stopped fighting and also returned home, each with his own share of camels.