Here’s how the story goes:

A desert sheik died bequeathing his nineteen camels to his three sons. He gave the most to his eldest, the least to his youngest as tradition dictated.

• His eldest son got half of his camels.
• His middle son, a quarter of his camels
• His youngest son a fifth of his camels.

His three daughters got nothing, but that’s another mediation.

But anyway, the three sons didn’t want to eat the camels, didn’t want to sell them, but they couldn’t logically divide them.

Shouting and fighting could be heard far and wide over the sandstorm. A full blown conflict was on the horizon.

Enter the mediator. A very wise woman, looks a lot like me but with a turban and a better sun-tan, and riding a camel of her own.

The mediator assessed the situation and lent her camel to the sheiks Estate. Now they had 20 camels.

And there you have it, the mediator’s facilitation got the brothers a solution that they found all by themselves.

• His eldest son got half of his camels, 10.
• His middle son, a quarter of his camels, 5.
• His youngest son a fifth of his camels, 4.

And that left one camel over, the mediators. And with a job well done, the mediator rode back off into the sunset keeping her opinions and judgments to herself that a silly old sheik neglected both his daughters and his maths skills.

Inheritance disputes are my legal specialty. When I came across this fable when training to be a mediator, and that I already found camels to be a lovely unassuming animal, far more interesting to me than a horse, then choosing to operate as Camel Mediation was all… caramel.

Why litigate when you can mediate? It’s faster, cheaper and allows you to craft your own solution rather than having one doled out to you by the court.

What would those brothers have done if the mediator had not loaned them a camel? What would the court have decided? By the time they’d paid their legal bills, would they have been left with one camel each? Or forced to sell all of them so the funds could be divided up?

If you wish to discuss mediation then please visit my contact page and get in touch. Together let’s try and find a solution to leave your dispute in the past and forge a better future.