Two sons were left a large piece of property by their father. The brothers fought for months over how to divide the land. Finally, tired of all the fighting and lack of resolution, they took their problem to the local wise man and asked him to solve it.

"Come back tomorrow," said the wise man, "and we'll talk then."

The next day the brothers returned and the wise man gave them his solution.

"Toss a coin," he said to one of the brothers. "You call it, heads or tails," he said to the other. "The one who wins the toss divides the land."

"That's no solution," said one of the brothers. "We're right back where we started!"

"Not so," said the wise man. "The one who wins the toss divides the land; but the other gets first choice."

Author Unknown

[ Top of page ]