Dividing the Bread

 Dividing the Bread

Two Rats Quarrelled over a Piece of Bread

Once, two rats found a large piece of bread. Getting the bread, the rats became very happy. But there arose a problem regarding the division of the bread. They quarreled for a long time but yet the problem remained unsolved. Then one of them proposed that they should go to Mr. Monkey to divide the bread equally. Mr. Monkey was so wise that the other promptly agreed to the proposal.

Mr. Monkey heard everything and brought his scales to divide the bread. After breaking the bread into two pieces, he put them onto the scales. But then he found that one of the pieces was heavier than the other. So, he said, “Oh! Dear, this piece is heavier than that. So, I will take a bite out of it.” So, the monkey took a bite out of the bread and put it back to the scales.

Then the other piece was heavier than that. So, he took another bite out of the other piece. Yet the pieces of bread were unequal. So, the monkey continued eating the bread in the name of dividing it equally. Soon there were very small two pieces of bread left on the scales.

Seeing this, the rats shouted, “Stop! You are eating all our bread. Give our bread back to us. We will divide it ourselves.” At this the monkey became very angry with them. He said, “Haven’t I done a lot of work for you? So, these pieces of breads are mine.” In this way, the rats finally did not get anything. Due to their excessive greed, they lost everything.