• There was once a rich old man who had eleven sons. One day, when he was old, weak, and dying, he called his sons to his room for a talk.

    "I'm old, weak, and dying. I have no more than a few more months to live. I have decided to give all of you a fraction of your inheritances. I will not give you all of it, not just yet." the old man said.

    The eldest, surprised of what his father had said as his other siblings, said "But father, why only a fraction? Why not give us what is entitled to us by our birthright?"
    "Because, my sons, I will give the remaining fraction of all your inheritances to only one of you." the father said as he pointed to the eleven.
    Another son asked his father, "One of us? Why? Who?"
    "I have my reasons, my children. As for the who, I have not decided yet. But I will when the time is right."

    The sons, looking at each other, wondered who their father might choose. Some felt insulted and the others felt confident that they would get it.

    "My sons, you will not do any good all cooked up in one place. I want you to take your fraction and leave this place. Find your own futures and use your money carefully." As the father said this, one by one, without another word, the sons left and went their own way. They all scattered to different parts of the globe. Most of them continued their professions in their hometown. All of them used their fraction as they wished.

    Half a year had passed and all eleven where doing excellent. Until the day they each received a letter from their father. Which read, "My sons, I think I might die soon. I would appreciate it if you all would come home so I might say a few words to you in person. Please also bring proof that you have done well with the fraction I have given you six months ago. Sincerely yours, Father"

    The sons rushed on the next flight to their hometown as soon as they got the letter. Along with the proof of their success for their father. Upon reaching the airport, the eleven sons saw each other for the first time in six months.

    Reaching the house, they all greeted their father, thinking that this was the time he would choose the one son who would receive it all. One by one the sons showed their father the proof of their success. They showed him pictures of their houses, cars, and businesses. Others brought newspapers that featured them and their deeds and their achievements. After ten of them had finished bragging, the father noticed one was missing. It was then that he saw that one son, the youngest, was in the background holding something behind him.

    "What do you have their, boy?" the father asked.
    The young boy pulled out from behind him an envelope that read "For Father."
    Curious, the father asked the son "What is this?"
    "This is what I owe you father?" the son answered.

    The father slowly opened the envelope and saw that it was empty. "What is the meaning of this?" he asked. "It's empty."
    "Exactly. What I owe you cannot be put in a simple envelope or any other container of any size. What I owe you is more than any material thing."
    "What is it?"
    "I owe you my life and my love, father. And that is something that one can never place in an envelope or show by visual perspective."

    The father was amazed by his son's gift for him, as were his other boys, that he couldn't help but break into tears. "Son, you have shown excellence that your brothers have never even come close to showing me. You have done an ordinary thing in an extraordinary way. You, my son, get the remaining half of the inheritance."