Once, an old man was very ill and lay dying in his bed. He
had four sons who were always fighting with each other. He always worried
about them and wanted to teach them a lesson and asked his sons to come to him.
When they came, the old man gave them a bundle of sticks and said, “Can you
break these sticks?”
The first son tried to break the bundle but nothing happened.
He tried very hard and finally gave up. Then it was the turn of the second son
to try his luck. He thought it would be an easy task and picked up the sticks
easily. He tried his best to break the sticks but nothing happened. Then, the
third son tried to break the bundle of sticks, but he couldn’t do anything
either.
Meanwhile, the youngest son jeered at his brothers and
thought they were very incompetent. He thought he was very clever and took one
stick at a time and easily broke all of them.
The old father then smiled at his sons and said, “Children,
do you understand what happened? It is always easy to break the sticks one by
one. But when they are bundled to‑ gether, none of you could break them. In the
same way. you four brothers should always be together. No one will be able to
hurt you then.” The four brothers realised what their father was trying to
teach them and forgot all their enmity and learnt that unity is strength.
From that day onwards, they never fought with each other and
lived together in peace and harmony.
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