Fable · 声匠改编 · 3:47
The Bundle of Sticks
Three children squabble from morning till night. Their old father hands them a bundle of sticks and a challenge: break it. Aesop's fable of unity, retold.
Narrator
Father, an old farmer
Tom, the eldest
Bess, the middle child
Ned, the youngestOther languages · 2 languages
About this story
The Bundle of Sticks, also known as The Old Man and His Sons, is one of Aesop's Fables: a father ends his sons' quarrelling by showing them that single sticks snap easily but a bundle tied together will not break. Similar stories, often told with a bundle of arrows, turn up in other parts of the world. This VoiceSmiths retelling gives the old farmer three squabbling children and an apple pie as the prize, as a warm full-cast audio story.
What it teaches
Unity is strength. On our own we are easy to break, but when we stick together and help each other, we are far stronger than any one of us alone.
Suits
Ages 4–9
Tips for telling it
- Try it with thin garden twigs: snap one, then try to break a small tied bundle. Supervise little hands.
- Ask children to name jobs that are hard alone but easy when everyone helps.
- Choose your own family word, like Sticks!, to use when a squabble starts.
Questions people ask
- What is the moral of The Bundle of Sticks?
- Unity is strength, or as older translations put it, union gives strength. Single sticks snap easily, but tied together they cannot be broken, just as a family or a group that sticks together is stronger than any one member alone.
- What is The Bundle of Sticks fable also called?
- It is also known as The Old Man and His Sons or The Father and His Sons. It is traditionally credited to Aesop, a storyteller said to have lived in ancient Greece around the sixth century BCE; this version is a VoiceSmiths retelling.
- What age is The Bundle of Sticks for?
- It suits children from about 4 to 9, and works especially well for brothers and sisters who squabble. Nobody is scolded harshly: the father simply shows them, and the children share the prize.
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