The Legend of Han Kubrat and the Sticks

The story goes that on his deathbed Khan Kubrat called his sons to tell them something important. The descendants of the great ruler lined up around their father and waited to hear his final advice. The old khan showed them a bundle of sticks and urged his descendants to break them. No matter how hard they tried to carry out the order none of the sons succeeded. Then Kubrat untied the bundle and began to break the sticks one by one. Then he looked up at the young Bulgarian nobles and said to them, “As long as you are together and keep each other up, you will be like this bundle of sticks, and no one will be able to defeat you. If you separate, you become weak and will be easily subdued by any enemy. Know that strength rests on unity!”