Aesop's Fables (Joseph Jacobs)
Jacobs 72. The Bundle of Sticks (Perry
53)
An old man on the point of death summoned his sons around him to give
them some parting advice. He ordered his servants to bring in a faggot
of sticks, and said to his eldest son: "Break it." The son strained
and strained, but with all his efforts was unable to break the Bundle.
The other sons also tried, but none of them was successful. "Untie
the faggots," said the father, "and each of you take a stick."
When they had done so, he called out to them: "Now, break,"
and each stick was easily broken. "You see my meaning," said
their father.
Union gives strength.
The
Fables of Aesop, by Joseph Jacobs with illustrations by
Richard Heighway (1894). The page images come from Google
Books. The digitized text comes from Project
Gutenberg. You can purchase this inexpensive Dover edition, The
Fables of Aesop by Joseph Jacobs from amazon.com.
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