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Æsop's Fables (V. S. Vernon-Jones)/The Fir-tree and the Bramble

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3882631Æsop's Fables: A New Translation — The Fir-tree and the BrambleVernon S. Vernon JonesAesop

THE FIR-TREE AND THE BRAMBLE

A FIR-TREE was boasting to a Bramble, and said, somewhat contemptuously, “You poor creature, you are of no use whatever. Now, look at me: I am useful for all sorts of things, particularly when men build houses; they can’t do without me then.” But the Bramble replied, “Ah, that’s all very well: but you wait till they come with axes and saws to cut you down, and then you’ll wish you were a Bramble and not a Fir.”

Better poverty without a care than wealth with its many obligations.

THE FIR-TREE AND THE BRAMBLE