The Two Rats and the Monkey
There lived two rats in a house.
They were very happy and led their lives by stealing food from the kitchen. One
day, they managed to steal a delicious piece of cake. But when it came time to
divide it, they couldn’t agree on how to split it fairly. Each rat wanted the
larger share, and soon they began to quarrel.
Unable to resolve the dispute,
they decided to seek help. They went to a monkey who was known to be clever and
fair. The monkey listened to their problem and offered to divide the cake for
them.
He broke the cake into two
pieces, but one piece was slightly bigger than the other. To make them equal,
the monkey took a bite from the larger piece. Now the other piece looked
bigger, so he took a bite from that one too. This went on and on, with the monkey
nibbling from each piece in turn.
Eventually, there was no cake
left. The rats were shocked and disappointed. The monkey shrugged and said, “I
was only trying to make the pieces equal.”
The rats realized their mistake
too late. Their greed had cost them the entire cake.
Moral of the Story: When
you quarrel out of greed, others may take advantage, and you may end up with
nothing.