Tom was walking through a forest with his axe. A little tree stopped him and said, "Please clear away those trees, my friend. Because of them, the sunlight cannot fall on me, and I have no room at all to spread myself. Without them, I'll be the pride of this part of the forest in a year ." Then Tom swung his axe and helped clear the area around the little tree. Unluckily when the sun came out, the little tree became very thirsty. Later when a storm came, the little tree lost all its leaves and branches. "Oh, poor little tree!" a bird said. "It was you that brought about your fall. Having the elder trees for protection, you clould grow without worrying about heat or wind and rain. When their time was past and gone, you might have reached such a height. By then you would have had enough strength to survive the sun and the storms."