The Bundle of Sticks
A free B1-level English story for language learners, readable online in 7 languages, with an option to listen via the free Storyteller app.
A father tired of his sons' constant quarrelling sets them a simple test with a bundle of sticks — one that makes his point better than words ever could.
A certain man had several Sons who were always quarrelling with one another, and, try as he might, he could not get them to live together in harmony. So he determined to convince them of their folly by the following means. Bidding them fetch a bundle of sticks, he invited each in turn to break it across his knee. All tried and all failed: and then he undid the bundle, and handed them the sticks one by one, when they had no difficulty at all in breaking them.
Cierto hombre tenía varios Hijos que siempre estaban peleando entre sí, y, por más que lo intentaba, no lograba que vivieran en armonía. Así que decidió convencerlos de su necedad por el siguiente medio. Pidiéndoles que trajeran un haz de varas, invitó a cada uno, por turno, a romperlo sobre su rodilla. Todos lo intentaron y todos fracasaron: entonces deshizo el haz y les entregó las varas una por una, y no tuvieron ninguna dificultad en romperlas.
"There, my boys," said he, "united you will be more than a match for your enemies: but if you quarrel and separate, your weakness will put you at the mercy of those who attack you."
«Ya veis, hijos míos», dijo, «unidos seréis más que capaces de enfrentar a vuestros enemigos: pero si os peleáis y os separáis, vuestra debilidad os pondrá a merced de quienes os ataquen».
Union is strength.
La unión hace la fuerza.
