THE AX AND THE TREES.
Once on a time a man came to a wood to ask the trees if they would give him a stick for his ax. This was so small a boon to ask, that the chief trees said at once, “By all means, give him what he wants from a good tough ash.” But as soon as the man had made the stick fit the ax, he fell to work with it to hack and hew down all the best trees in the wood. The oak was heard to say, in sad tones to the beech, “The first step has lost us all. We gave up our poor friend the ash to the foe. But for this we might all have stood for an age to come; now we must take our sad fate for our pains.”