History Main / TheSonsAndTheSpears

* In Creator/AkiraKurosawa's ''{{Ran}}'', Saburo, the youngest son, shows that with a little more effort, he ''can'' break the bundled sticks (he holds each end of the bundle in one hand, then drives them downward against his stiffened leg), using this to attempt to drive home that Hidetora's plan to divide his territory among his sons is still a Bad Idea. For this concern, he gets disinherited. ''Ran'' being ''Theatre/KingLear'' [[RecycledInSpace IN MEDIEVAL JAPAN!]], this move turns out to be a huge mistake--especially with Taro and Jiro more than proving that Hidetora's hopes for their cooperation were without foundation.

* ''[[{{Touhou}} Great Fairy Wars]]'': The Three Mischevious Fairies [[ComicallyMissingThePoint completely miss the point]]:

* The Bulgars have a cautionary variant: The sons *didn't* listen and the great Bulgarian empire of Kotrag broke up.

* [[TheBible Ecclesiastes 4:12]] - Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.

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* In AkiraKurosawa's ''{{Ran}}'', Saburo, the youngest son, shows that with a little more effort, he ''can'' break the bundled sticks (he holds each end of the bundle in one hand, then drives them downward against his stiffened leg), using this to attempt to drive home that Hidetora's plan to divide his territory among his sons is still a Bad Idea. For this concern, he gets disinherited. ''Ran'' being ''Theatre/KingLear'' [[RecycledInSpace IN MEDIEVAL JAPAN!]], this move turns out to be a huge mistake--especially with Taro and Jiro more than proving that Hidetora's hopes for their cooperation were without foundation.

* In AkiraKurosawa's ''{{Ran}}'', Saburo, the youngest son, shows that with a little more effort, he ''can'' break the bundled sticks (he holds each end of the bundle in one hand, then drives them downward against his stiffened leg), using this to attempt to drive home that Hidetora's plan to divide his territory among his sons is still a Bad Idea. For this concern, he gets disinherited. ''Ran'' being ''KingLear'' [[RecycledInSpace IN MEDIEVAL JAPAN!]], this move turns out to be a huge mistake--especially with Taro and Jiro more than proving that Hidetora's hopes for their cooperation were without foundation.

* Used as a metaphor for family in David Lynch's ''{{The Straight Story}}''.

* A similar story is told about Genghis Khan, and how he used it to demonstrate that the mongol tribes were stronger unified than divided.
** And that story in turn had existed in Chinese literary circles for a long time, and originally concerned a Hunnish king.

* One etymology has the name of the Hungarian confederation (originally seven Magyar and three Turkic tribes) as the "Ten Arrows" ("An Ogur") for similar reasons.

----

--> '''Maurice:''' *signing* Why [did you give a] cookie [to] Rocket?
--> '''Caesar:''' *signing* Apes alone *breaks a stick* weak. Apes together strong.
--> The Apes start fighting among themselves

An old story, arguably OlderThanDirt. The story goes something like this:

* ''[[{{Touhou}} Great Fairy Wars]]'': The Three Mischevious Fairies [[CompletelyMissingThePoint completely miss the point]]:

* The Pseudo-Plutarch tells this story as performed by King Scilurus of Scythia.

* The Georgian version comes from the fable of Sulkhan-Saba Orbeliani

* The Pseudo-Plutarch tells this story as performed by King Scilurus of Scythia

* Motonari uses this comparison in ''SamuraiWarriors 3'' to get the Tachibana to join his cause. [[ZigZaggedTrope Zig-zagged]] a little [[PlayedForLaughs for laughs]] - Muneshige breaks the first arrow as planned, but when Motonari hands him three, his wife [[LadyOfWar Tachibana]] grabs them and breaks them as well. Motonari calmly extends the metaphor, mentioning tens or hundreds of arrows, and Muneshige heads him off, saying his wife is just being intentionally stubborn.

* There is also legends associated with this motif concerning the founding of the Aztec Triple Alliance.

->Individually we are weak, like a single twig, but as a bundle we form [[HaveAGayOldTime a mighty faggot]].

There is a king, said king as several sons. They [[CainAndAbel don't get along]]. Fearing for [[SuccessionCrisis the safety of his kingdom]], the king decides to teach his sons a valuable lesson.

So he gathers his sons together and he tells them that he has a task for them: The son who can complete the task shall succeed him. He then takes out a bundle of spears (sticks, arrows) and asks his sons to break them. When none of his sons succeed he then takes the spears one by one and breaks them, thus impressing on his sons that in unity there is strength.

* There is a Japanese version concerning a feudal era warlord named Mori Motonari.

* Genghis Khan supposedly gave a speech to his armies in which he snapped a single arrow and then showed the strength of multiple arrows together. This was quite a pertinent sentiment seeing as his army was made up of previously warring tribes.

* In AkiraKurosawa's ''{{Ran}}'', the youngest son discovers that with a little more effort, he ''can'' break the bundled sticks, for which he gets disinherited. ''Ran'' being ''KingLear'' [[RecycledInSpace IN MEDIEVAL JAPAN!]], this move turns out to be a huge mistake.

* In AkiraKurosawa's ''{{Ran}}'', the youngest son discovers that with a little more effort, he ''can'' break the bundled sticks, for which he gets disinherited. ''Ran'' being a DarkerAndEdgier version of ''KingLear'' [[RecycledInSpace IN MEDIEVAL JAPAN!]], this move turns out to be a huge mistake.

* In AkiraKurosawa's ''{{Ran}}'', the youngest son discovers that with a little more effort, he ''can'' break the bundled sticks, for which he gets disinherited. ''Ran'' being a DarkerAndEdgier SettingUpdate of ''KingLear'', this move turns out to be a huge mistake.

* In AkiraKurosawa's ''{{Ran}}'', the youngest son discovers that with a little more effort, he ''can'' break the bundled sticks, for which he gets disinherited. ''Ran'' being a SettingUpdate of ''KingLear'', this move turns out to be a huge mistake.

* In AkiraKurosawa's ''{{Ran}}'', the youngest son discovers that with a little more effort, he ''can'' break the bundled sticks, for which he gets disinherited.