An old farmer died and left his 17 horses to his 3 sons.
When his sons opened up the last will it read:
‘My eldest son should get 1/2 (half) of total horses;’
‘My middle son should be given 1/3rd (one-third) of the total horses;’
‘My youngest son should be given 1/9th (one-ninth) of the total horses.’
As it was impossible to divide 17 into half or 17 by 3 or 17 by 9, the three sons started struggling with each other.
So, they decided to go to a farmer friend who they considered quite smart, to see if he could solve the problem for them.
The farmer friend read the will slowly and patiently, and, after giving due thought, brought one of his own horses over and added it to the 17.
That increased the total to 18 horses.
Now, he divided the horses according to their father’s will.
Half of 18 = 9. So he gave the eldest son 9 horses.
1/3rd of 18 = 6. So he gave the middle son 6 horses.
1/9th of 18 = 2. So he gave the youngest son 2 horses.
Now add up how many horses they have:
Eldest son 9
Middle son 6
Youngest son 2
TOTAL = 17
This leaves one horse over, so the farmer's friend takes his horse back to his farm……
Moral of the story......
A father will always look for wise children to give his inheritance so that they may use it wisely.
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