The Story of the Three Brothers

They lived in a beautiful farm, three brothers with their mother. They used to help their father with farm work. But they argued a lot, which saddened their father. The brothers did not stop arguing even on their way to market to sell their farm’s products of vegetables.

One of them would lead the cart and one of them would hold the reins of the mules so that they would not fall to the ground. So they were arguing about which one of them would hold the cart and which one would hold the reins. They argued around each one of them about who would hold the cart and who would hold the reins. The cart was beautiful, and the mules were strong and wonderful.

Finally, they reached the market and stood in the middle of the market to sell the vegetables. The weather that day was beautiful, and the sun was setting, coloring the sky in beautiful colors. The middle brother went to drink a cup of water, and he instructed his older brother and younger brother to continue with the selling, and he cared for the cart and vegetables on their return.

After a little, the youngest brother felt severe heat, so he decided to go swimming in the sea well near to village’s market. He left his older brother to continue with the selling, but the older brother had gone away from the youngest brother and the other middle brother, so that he would sell the vegetables alone.

The middle brother leaned against the cart and went into a deep sleep. Then a lot of people came to buy the vegetables, but he remained sleeping, so they left him and went to look for another seller. When the sun set, the youngest brother came back from the sea, after he had spent the whole day playing there, and he said to himself that his older brother would still be with the selling, so he decided not to return to him until after the sun set and when the morning came and the sea’s water would be cool.

When he returned and found his middle brother arguing with his older brother, because the cart of vegetables had been stolen and everything on it was no longer existing. So the three brothers started to argue with and to blame each one of the other. The middle brother blamed the younger because he had left them to go to the sea, and the oldest blamed the middle because he was sleeping and did not care for the watch over the cart and mules. The severity of the quarrel increased, so their father shouted and demanded from them to stop the argument and to stop the abuse, and he said to them: “You are not brothers.”

The father entered his room and told them that the next day would be a holiday for him, and they must work in the morning early and they should not go to the quarrel, nor should they go to the abuse. In the morning of the next day, the holiday came, their father woke up, but the three brothers did not wake up.

So each one of them said to himself that he would carry the father with one of them alone, and that he would make the other one to carry the load, and he thought that each one of them would break the wood of the stubbornness alone, and then he gave each one a piece of the hard wood, and he demanded from each one of them to break his piece, and no one of them would be able to break his piece, for the pieces were strong and no one would be able to break them.

Here the father taught them an important lesson, and that the harmony between them and their unity is power, and that the strength is in completing the work together, so the three brothers learned that the quarrel and selfishness is nothing but to waste the time, and that harmony is what is necessary.