This thread is to collect stories attributed to ‘men (women) of wisdom’ that illustrate a new way of looking at a problem, creative or unconventional thinking, or just plain street-smarts. I don’t care if the story is partly or wholly fictional; many stories attributed to legend / folklore cannot be proven or disproven conclusively. Some stories may not even be attribute with any certainty to an actual person, but it is enough if it is considered traditionally to be associated with a person.
If the story contains a moral, so much the better. It does not matter if the story is serious or humorous.
I want to restrict this thread to instances from known history or folklore. Attribution would be nice, but if you dont know, post anyway.
Here is one about the art of negotiation:
Attributed to: Unknown
A father left 17 camels as an asset for his three sons. When the father passed away, his sons opened up the will.
The Will of the father stated that the eldest son should get half of 17 camels while the middle son should be given 1/3rd (one-third). The youngest son should be given 1/9th (one-ninth) of the 17 camels.
As it is not possible to divide 17 into half or 17 by 3 or 17 by 9, three sons started to fight with each other. So, the three sons decided to go to a wise man.
The wise man listened patiently about the Will.
The wise man, after giving this thought, brought one camel of his own and 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 the eldest son 9 camels
1/3rd of 18 = 6. So he gave the middle son 6 camels
1/9th of 18 = 2. So he gave the youngest son 2 camels.
Now add this up: 9 plus 6 plus 2 is 17 and this leaves one camel, which the wise man took back.
Moral: The attitude of negotiation and 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.
Attributed to the legends of Birbal and Akbar:
One day Akbar was strolling in his palace gardens with his dear minister Birbal. Many crows were flying around. He thought, that how many crows could be in his kingdom and immediately posed this question to Birbal.
Birbal thought a moment, then said, “They are ninety-five thousand, four hundred and sixty three (95463) crows in your kingdom, sir.” “How do you know that for sure?” the King asked. “You can get them counted, sir”, Birbal replied.
The king again said, “If there will be less than that?” Birbal replied, “That means that the rest of them have gone to the neighboring kingdoms.”
“And if there were more than that?”
“That means that other crows are visiting your kingdom, sir. But there are exactly 95463 crows in your kingdom.”