Division

 There was once a poor man who had two sons. Before he died, he left his only possessions in the world- a blanket and a cow- to his sons. The elder son was quite cunning. He said to his younger brother "Let's equally divide the things our father gave us. You have the blanket during the day and I will possess it by night. Where the cow is concerned, you can have the front half of the cow and I will keep the back half." The simpleton that the younger boy was, he accepted the offer. It was not long before the younger fellow realised that he was being cheated. The blanket served no purpose during the day and he had to shiver in the night. Where the cow was concerned, he had to feed it as the front half was his and the elder brother got all the milk as the back half was his. Dejected he went to a wise man to seek advice. The wise man gave him some tips. The younger son came home and soaked the blanket in water during the day. The dripping blanket was useless to the elder brother when he got it at night. When the elder brother tried to milk the cow, as per the advice of the wise man, the younger brother hit the front half of the cow with a stick. In desperation, the cow kicked furiously and the milk was spilt.the elder brother sitting right there also got a few kicks. The elder brother realised that this sort of division would not do.Besides he was now full of remorse.He apologised for his behaviour and said "Brother, sorry that I tried to be very selfish. I think we need to redivide our possessions. The blanket is large enough to serve us both, Let us cut it into two. Where the cow is concerned, both of us shall equally share the milk that she gives us".

This was indeed a fair division. This story can be used when we teach division, not so much to teach how to divide numerically, but how to divide fairly.