One day a man in Hodja’s village died, leaving seventeen donkeys for his three sons. According to his will the oldest son would receive one-half of his donkeys, the second one-third, and the youngest one-ninth. When the sons were unable to divide the donkeys according to their father’s wishes, they came to Hodja to resolve their differences.
“You are fighting over nothing,” said Hodja. “I will lend you my donkey and everything will be in order.” Adding his donkey made the total eighteen, so that he gave one-half, or nine donkeys, to the eldest son, one-third, or six, to the second, and one-ninth, or two, to the youngest, making a total of seventeen. He bowed to the three young men, climbed onto his own donkey and headed for home.