Once two women were quarreling, and I am afraid that their quarrel was loud enough to be heard by others at the restaurant where they were having lunch. As it happens, there was a wise woman who attended the same church they did who happened to overhear. Deciding that since they had made the affair public, she could not be blamed for responding to it, she came up to their table and sat down.
Both women were surprised enough to stop talking for a moment, and the wise woman said, “I am sorry, but I could not help but overhear. May I say something?”
The other two women, too surprised to speak, just nodded.
The wise woman went on. “The apostle Paul told us not to bite and devour one another—if we do not listen to him, we will surely be destroyed.”
One of the women quietly nodded, feeling ashamed. The other one, the one who in all honesty had started the quarrel, and was the real troublemaker, said, “I’m not the one biting and devouring. She’s the one doing that.”
At this, the wise woman turned to her and said, “I am afraid that’s not true at all. This argument is really your responsibility entirely.”
At this, the quarrelsome woman’s eyebrows shot up, and she said, “What?! You just got here, and don’t know anything about it. How do you know who is responsible?”
“I am afraid that is not that hard. When I came to the table, I did not know. There was a squalling baby here, and I did not know who the mother was. And so, like Solomon, I offered to cut the baby in two, and offer you each one half of it. Our sister here agreed, and so she is not the mother. You insisted that the baby not be divided at all—you are the mother, and the quarrel is therefore your precious baby.”
At this, the wise woman got up to go. As she turned to leave, she said again, “Remember, the apostle Paul said not to bite and devour.”