The Twelfth Camel - an old Bedouin tale about wisdom and conflict solving

źródło: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camel

There's an old Bedouin tale about wisdom, creative thinking and conflict solving. Its origins aren't entirely clear, as it comes from the oral tradition. I'm posting it and thinking about a very clever woman who has birthday 🎈 today.

Listen...

At the end of his life, the old sheikh announced his last will. He had three sons and eleven camels. He decided to leave them eleven camels as an inheritance. They were to divide as follows: the eldest son received half of the herd, the middle one quarter, and the youngest one of the sixth part.

As soon as the father died, arguments among the brothers broke out, as 11 camels were impossible to divide (11 is a prime number). The more impossible the task seemed to be, the more unhealthy the tension between the brothers grew.

What to do??? They decided to seek advice from the mullah. The wise man thought for a long time and said, "I will give you my camel; you will add it to the herd and divide it according to your father's will. And if God lets, you will give me my camel back."

And so they did. Including the mullah's camel, the herd consisted of 12 animals now, so the division was simple.

The oldest son took half of 12 - 6 camels, the middle son took one quarter - 3 camels, and the youngest one took one sixth - 2 camels. As you can easily calculate, 6 + 3 + 2 equals 11. Therefore, after dividing the inheritance fairly, one camel remained, which could be returned to the mullah.

But this isn't the end of the story. It's merely the beginning. This tale holds a mystery.

The twelfth camel made each of the three brothers gain.

Without the twelfth camel, the oldest son would have received half of 11, or 5.5, but now he received 6. The middle son could only count on 4/11, or 2.75, and the youngest son, 6/11, or 1.833.

So, thanks to the twelfth camel, everyone had reason to be happy. Even the camels that had escaped inevitable quartering. So who—or what—is the twelfth camel, which doesn't actually exist, having only been borrowed and then given back?

Perhaps it's something invisible to the eye, something that allows harmony to replace fight and quarrels?

Or perhaps it's a symbol of wise law that respects not only the letter but also the spirit?

Perhaps the twelfth camel is the antithesis of fierceness and narrow-mindedness?

Perhaps it's a symbol of intelligence, which in a situation of acute conflict can find an unexpected solution?

Only one thing is certain: the twelfth camel comes from the outside and is a selfless gift from the wise man.

Without the twelfth camel, hatred and rage towards the deceased father would have grown. Because in this story, it's hard to forget the father.

On his deathbed, he gave his sons a difficult task, perhaps even impossible to solve justly. This sparked conflict. He pushed his sons into considerable trouble. Perhaps he wanted the strongest, most brutal, and most cunning to take over the camels and rule the clan.

What was his intention?

There's also a theory that the dying father wanted to pass on to his sons something more than camels: he wanted to impart one final lesson.

What was that lesson???

Life is made up of competitions and conflicts which must be resolved. And there are two ways to do this. You can choose a path in which all those involved lose and three camels must be killed. However, you can also look for a way in which everyone gains.

How?

Now you know ;)