Among the folk of days gone by, there was a very elderly gentleman who had many sons. When he was about to reach the end of his life, the old man asked his sons to bring to him a bundle of slender rods, if there happened to be some lying about. One of his sons came and brought the bundle to his father. 'Now try, with all your might, my sons, to break these rods that have been bound together.' They were not able to do so. The father then said, 'Now try to break them one by one.' Each rod was easily broken. 'O my sons,' he said, 'if you are all of the same mind, then no one can do you any harm, no matter how great his power. But if your intentions differ from one another, then what happened to the single rods is what will happen to each of you!'