There lived a family where for every little matter, some type of arguments were going on among the family members, especially among the three sisters-in -law. But however, they sustained to live together with their old mother-in-law. Term wise, they performed their duty, but not with heart! So many times they tried to set off from the house, but failed. They knew it very well, why they couldn't successful on their venture. That was nothing but the strong bond of ‘money’, the huge property! And the disclaimer of the old lady was-‘Anybody who would be separated, would not be a part of the property’! So, instead of belligerent action, each one had a vigil eye on others not to give a scope to manipulate mother.
Days passed away, but the old lady was still alive without partition of her property. One day, she called her three sons and in presence of her daughters-in-law handed over three cheques. Each cheque validated with huge amount of money, equally. They were surprised that where from their mother got this money! And every time whenever her children asked about it, the lady finished the talk saying-‘I have enough money left!’. But none of them dared to ask about the whereabouts of that enough money. Each one of them were on their toes, trying to know the secret place. Their service to mother had increased proportionally, as the lady touched her terminal point!
Eventually, the old lady died. After few days of completion of mother’s ritual, the three sisters-in-law instigated their husbands to search for the rest of the money. With sheer anxiety, they all opened the only one wooden cupboard she had. When they opened the inner chamber of the coup board, they found one folded paper. ‘Instead of cheque book or money, only a paper?!’ All were stunned to see the paper. One of them opened it and others hunched over. On the paper only few lines were written as:
‘Nothing more is left. All the money were given to me by your father before his final journey. He only advised one thing to me -‘Use your common sense wisely to survive.’ I thought so many days, what he meant by this. At last, I understood why he meant the words ‘common sense’ and ‘wisely’. If I would not keep it as a secret, all of you would be away from me long before! Where would I go in my old age? I would be neglected. So, I decided to keep all of you alerted for the rest of the money. Now my work is over, you can sell this house, and divide the money among yourselves equally. That’s my decision! ’
They all looked at each other, numbed for a moment! How much misunderstanding there may be among the wives, the son's were amazed with their mom’s wise trick!