A Man and his Sons worked their hands off from morning till night, and hardly gained a meal for their pains. The Sons were all of temper so opposite to each other, that they were always quarrelling among themselves, insomuch that their father could not spend a moment’s peace with them.
Now it happened that the old man lay on his deathbed; and he sent for his Sons that he might have the pleasure of a reconciliation before he died. When they were come, he gave each of them a small faggot of sticks, and told them to untie it and set them one by one on fire. This they found no difficulty in doing, and soon they were all in flames.
“Now untie them,” said their father, “and try if you can do the same with them singly.” This they found they could not do.
“Do you not see,” said their father, “how certain it is that if these sticks remain united, no force on earth can overthrow them; while, if you allow them to be separated, they will be broken as easily as I have broken these?”
Unity is strength.