The Bundle of Sticks

There lived in a village a wise old man and his three sons. The old man had lived a happy and content life and had saved enough money to give his three sons. “With the money I give them, they will be able to live a happy and comfortable life,” he thought.

Alas ! It was not to be. The three sons were always quarreling with each other. This made the old man very sad.

One day the old man fell very sick and felt that his end was near. “Please come and sit beside me,” he called out to his three sons. “I want you to do something for me.”

“What is it?” they asked him in unison.

He then took out a bundle if sticks tied tightly in the middle and gave it tili then. “Now, break this bundle for me.” he told them.

First the eldest brother tried with all his might but he couldn’t succeed. Then the other two brothers also tried and failed.

He then called them to his side. He took the bundle and untied the rope that bound them.

“I can now easily break the sticks one by one,” he told them. “Even though the sticks are of different lengths and thickness, when they were together they were unbreakable.”

“When the three if you leave your differences aside and stand together as one, then you will be much stronger and happier than you are now.”

The three sons learnt their lesson and from that day lived and worked with each other to live a happy life.

“Unity gives strength!”