Two mice, Changu and Mangu, found a bar of chocolate. “I saw it first. It’s mine,” said Changu. “But I picked it up. It’s mine,” said Mangu. Changu tried to snatch the bar from Mangu who held on to it. In this fight, the chocolate bar broke into two parts.
“Alright, let’s share it. You can keep that piece,” said Mangu generously. “This is the smaller one; you got a bigger one,” wailed Changu.
A cat passing by sided with Changu. “You two must share the chocolate equally,” said the cat. “Give me both the pieces. I’ll divide them equally between you two,” said the cat.
The cat took the two pieces and examined them. “I’ll chew off one small bit from this bigger piece. Then it will be equal to the other piece.”
The cat bit off a part from the bigger piece.
“You have bitten off too much! It is smaller than the other one!” protested Changu.
“Do not worry. Now I will chew off a bit from this piece. That will make them equal.”
“Ah, now we have two equal pieces,” said the cat with satisfaction.
“This is so small,” protested Changu and Mangu.
“Small but equal pieces,” pointed out the cat.
“I must get my fees for taking this much trouble,” said the cat as he gulped what was left of the chocolate bar.
As he took leave of them, the cat said, “Call me any time, if you have something to be divided equally.”
The two friends had learnt their lesson. “Hereafter, let’s settle our dispute ourselves,” said Changu. Mangu agreed.
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