The Father and His Sons
A FATHER had a family of sons who were
perpetually quarreling among themselves.
When he failed to heal their disputes by his
exhortations, he determined to give them a
practical illustration of the evils of disunion;
and for this purpose he one day told them to
bring him a bundle of sticks. When they had
done so, he placed the faggot into the hands
of each of them in succession, and ordered
them to break it in pieces. They tried with all
their strength, and were not able to do it. He
next opened the faggot, took the sticks separately,
one by one, and again put them into
his sons' hands, upon which they broke them
easily. He then addressed them in these
words: "My sons, if you are of one mind, and
unite to assist each other, you will be as this
faggot, uninjured by all the attempts of your
enemies; but if you are divided among
yourselves, you will be broken as easily as
these sticks."
No comments:
Post a Comment