Do shirtsleeves quarrel with each other? No, this is about two groups of people who were convinced that they should make the shirt in a particular way and wear it differently from the other group. One of them thought that shirts should be made with the right sleeve longer than the left and worn that way and the other group felt it should be the opposite.

There were constant bickerings and quarrels and even fights on this issue. In their midst, there was a wise man, a shirtless one, a saint who pointed out the futility of the argument. He said that shirts were meant as protection against the weather and how did it matter how we wore them? This angered a crazy long right sleeved man who shot him down - the crazy man reckoned that the shirtless one would be better off upstairs in heaven than messing up things here down below!

After many years, some of the long left sleeved people sent some toy planes and brought down two houses of cards made by Big Brother. Though Big Brother was not involved in the war of the shirtsleeves, he used to brag a lot and flex his muscles from time to time. So they wanted to put him in his proper place. Big Brother fretted and fumed and punished those whom he thought were responsible; maybe innocent people suffered and the guilty ones got away. In this campaign, Big Brother also acquired some questionable friends.

In another part of the globe, the long left sleeved ones and a group who wore sleeveless shirts were engaged in a conflict. The latter had the blessings of Big Brother.

Back home in our country, the long left sleeved ones set fire to a toy train of the other group and the long right sleeved ones retaliated by setting fire to some toy houses belonging to their adversaries.

The words of the shirtless one, shot through the chest at the beginning of the story, were forgotten.

It appears that the war of the shirtsleeves will go on for eternity and if it happens, we will all lose the shirts off our backs!