A certain man had several sons who were always quarreling with each other. However hard he tried, he could not get them to live together in peace. So he determined to convince them of their stupidity in the following wag. He told them to fetch a bundle of sticks and asked each son in turn to break it across his knee. All tried and failed. Then he undid the bundle, and gave them the stick one by one . They had no difficulty breaking them. "There, my boys," he said. "United you will have power. But if quarrel and separate, you will be weak.