The Bundle of Sticks

A father had sons who quarrelled without end. He could not make them live in peace, so he asked them to bring a bundle of sticks. He told each son to break the bundle across his knee. Every one tried; every one failed.

Then he untied the bundle and gave them the sticks one by one. Those single sticks snapped easily.

“United,” he said, “you will be more than a match for your enemies. If you quarrel and split apart, your weakness will leave you at their mercy.”

About this fable

In V. S. Vernon Jones’s 1912 translation of Aesop this fable is called “Father and Sons”, and its moral is “Union is strength.” English readers usually know it as “The Bundle of Sticks”. It is a Greek fable, not an Indian one.

Joseph Jacobs’s 1894 retelling makes the father an old man on the point of death, giving his sons parting advice, and ends with the moral “Union gives strength.” The retelling here keeps Vernon Jones’s quarrelling sons and his ending.

Read the original: V. S. Vernon Jones, Aesop’s Fables (Project Gutenberg #11339, Father and Sons)

Best for ages 6–8: a short family fable about squabbling and sticking together, suited to a paper-based demonstration led by an adult.

Why a demonstration instead of another lecture?

The sons have already ignored their father’s wish for peace. He changes the form of his argument: each son experiences the bundle’s resistance before seeing a single stick break. The demonstration gives them a shared result to discuss. It does not show how to settle the original quarrel, however. Staying together will require listening and making agreements, not merely standing side by side or always having the same opinion.

From the bundle to an agreement

Compare how easily one paper strip bends with several strips held together; do not snap sharp sticks or use your knee. Then invent a fair agreement for the brothers about one shared task. Explain how each brother’s contribution would strengthen their cooperation.

Talk about it

• Why couldn’t the sons break the bundle?
• What did the father want his sons to understand?
• How could the brothers stop quarrelling? What advice would you give them?

Related stories

• The Oak and the Reed — an Aesop fable comparing the strength of a mighty oak and slender reeds
• The Ant and the Grasshopper — the ants work together through summer while the grasshopper sings
• The Four Clever Brothers — four Grimm brothers each learn a trade and must join forces in the end