A Farmer and his Seven Sons
A farmer lived in a village. He had seven sons. All of them were strong and young but they had no unity. They always quarreled with one another on very petty issues. The father was much worried about them. He scolded them occasionally for their disunity and advised them to mend their ways and live together with love and affection but all his advice fell flat on them.
As the days passed the father grew old and the sons continued to be apart from each other. One day when the old farmer was ill, he called all his seven sons before him. ‘He asked his eldest son to bring seven stout sticks. When he got, he asked him to tie the sticks into a bundle with a cord. The eldest son did as desire by his father. Now the old man told him to break his bundle with all his might. The eldest son tried his best but the bundle was too strong to break. Then the old man told his other sons also one by one to try their might to break the bundle but none was successful
New the old man told his youngest son to untie the bundle and give each of his brothers one stick each. All of them took a stick in their hands. The old man told them to break the sticks at once. All of them broke their sticks in no time. After this all was over the old man called his sons near to him and told them that there was a piece of advice for them in the action they performed. When the sticks were tied in a bundle none among you could harm it and when it became disunited each of you could break them easily. The same is the case with you all. If you remain united like the bundle of sticks, you will be strong and nobody will harm you and if you remain disunited, quarrel with one another you will be easily harmed by any one. So take my advice and stop quarreling with each other and be a strong force”. The sons now understood the value of unity and resolved to live united in future.
Moral: Union is Strength.
