Three men are hiking in the desert and become lost. One man came prepared and packed a full back pack water jug. The second man had assumed they would be there only a few hours and packed only two canteens of water he carried on his belt. The third man brought a couple of water bottles he bought in the convenient store at the edge of the desert.
As the day wore on the third man decided he might die if he didn't have more water for hydration. He suggested to the first man who had carried his heavy load of a full back pack of water to share his since he had so much more, perhaps even more than he needed. So the first man filled the third man's two water bottles to the brim and gave them to the third man.
The second man finished his second canteen by the end of the first full day in the desert and also suggested that the first man share his abundance with him. The first man filled one of the canteens the second man carried, gave it back to him so he would have water to last through the night and into the next day.
The first man had finished some of his water through the first day as well and with the filling of the third man's two water bottles and the second man's canteen, the first man's back pack water jug had been depleted by over half.
In the late afternoon of the second full day in the desert the second man and the third man had finished all of their water once again and turned to the first man for a refill. Having finished a portion of his water in his back pack jug, the first man had only about a third of his jug's water remaining.
The second man and the third man became adamant with the first man that he should share his remaining water with them since he had started with so much more than they had each started with. The first man began to resist saying that he had thought ahead, packed the water, had carried the heavy water for the entire time in the desert without any help from the others. Moreover, the first man argued, he had already shared more than a third of his water with each of them previously. The second and third man had already consumed all they had plus about a third of the first man's water.
When the second and third man perceived the first man was not going to give them his water, they attacked him and compelled him to redistribute his water so that each of them had equal shares of the first man's remaining water. After taking the water from the first man the other two continued on their journey to try to escape the desert. The first man stayed behind for fear the other two would attack him again later and take all of his water.
Two days later the first man was rescued from the desert by a search party that had been looking for all of them. When the first man was found he inquired about the others. He was informed their bodies had been found the day before; they were burned by the sun and their water containers were completely dry.
Was it fair for the two men to compel the first man to give them equal shares of his water? How did the first man survive?
