Horace Elisha Scudder

The Farmer's Sons

A Farmer’s sons were very quarrelsome, and the father, when he took counsel with them, could do nothing by his words. Then he thought he would persuade them by an example. So while they were sitting there, he bade them bring him some fagots, and when these were fetched, he took them and bound them into one bundle, and ordered his sons in turn to take the bundle and break it. They tried, but could not. But afterward, when he had loosed the fagots, he gave them to be broken singly. This they did very quickly. Then their father saith to them: "So is it with you, my children; if you are all of the same mind you will be unconquerable, and unmanageable by your enemies; but if you continue to rebel and be quarrelsome, you will quickly be mastered by them."