Mr. Gyebi And His Sons

A very long time ago, there was a man called Mr. Gyebi. He lived in a village called Mampa. He had five sons. Mr. Gyebi had a large cocoa farm, and his five sons worked on this farm. However, they did not get much money from their work because they were always fighting and did not have time to focus on their tasks.

One day, Mr. Gyebi said to them, “Go to the forest and bring some sticks. We can make a fence for our garden. Don’t fight.” The brothers quickly went into the forest and cut the sticks. Each of them collected his sticks together and tied them into one bundle. Then, they went home with their bundle of sticks.

As they were walking, Appah’s foot hit a stone. As he was falling, his hand accidentally pushed Daako, who was walking in front of him. Both of them fell down with their bundle of sticks. Daako became angry and shouted, “Why did you push me?”

Appah answered, “I didn’t see you, I was also falling down.”

Daako, still angry, said, “You are a big liar! You pushed me.” Soon, all the brothers were angry and started talking and arguing until they got home.

Mr. Gyebi was very unhappy when he heard them arguing. At first, he wanted to beat them, but he decided not to. Instead, he called his sons together. He told Kusi, the oldest son, to take five sticks and tie them together into a bundle. Then, Mr. Gyebi took the bundle and said, “I want each of you to break this bundle.”

Nobody could break the bundle. It was too hard and too strong for them to break. Then, Mr. Gyebi took the sticks one by one and gave each stick to each of his sons. He said, “Now, I want each of you to break his stick.”

This time, it was very easy. Everyone broke his stick.

Mr. Gyebi then spoke to his sons, “You could not break the bundle because the sticks were together. The bundle was strong. Each one of you could break his stick because it was alone and not strong. Stop fighting and live together. You will be like a bundle of sticks—strong and happy together. If you are not united, anyone can make you unhappy.”

After this, the five brothers stopped fighting and lived in harmony.

The moral of the story is: "Together we are stronger."

When people are united and work together in harmony, they become stronger and more successful. However, if they are divided and constantly fighting, they become weak and unproductive. Unity brings strength, while division leads to failure.