阿豺折箭｜Mùróng Āchái: bREAKING aRROWS

阿豺折箭｜Mùróng Āchái: bREAKING aRROWS

上回說到⋯⋯《阿豺折箭》 。
Recap… the Story of “Mùróng Āchái: breaking arrows”.

阿豺有子二十人，緯代，長子也。阿豺又謂曰：「汝等各奉吾一支箭，折之地下。」俄而命母弟慕利延曰：「汝取一支箭折之。」慕利延折之。又曰：「汝取十九支箭折之。」延不能折。阿豺曰：「汝曹知否？單者易折，眾則難摧，戮力一心，然後社稷可固。」

阿豺就是南北朝時吐谷渾國王——「慕容阿柴」，而對於其他相關的注釋，大家可搜尋坊間各處。其道理則十分淺白，「單者易折，眾則難摧」。
The story of “Mùróng Āchái*1 and his 20 sons” version is the most recent used Chinese versions.

However, here I have found an English “followers” version*2:

It is recorded in the “Biography of Tuyuhun” of North China History, that, on his deathbed, Acai called 20 of his followers and asked them to break one arrow and a bundle of 19 arrows to see which was easier. The lesson was that only by uniting as one, was it possible to maintain their rule. This incident of “leaving a will by breaking arrows” is still preserved as an idiom in Chinese speech today.

So, children can learn the concept of “unity of strength” through this nice and simple moral story easily.

#sources:
*1
Mùróng Āchái(慕容阿柴) was a Ruler of his Tartar Tribe in 417 -424.
Source from “List of Mongolian monarchs”

*2
Source from “The Tuyuhun Ancestors of the Tu-Sequel II”

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