The Bush and the Tree

7.15. De dumo et abiete
Caxton: Of the busshe and of the aubyer tree
None for his beaute ought not to despreyse some other / For somtyme suche one is fayre that soone wexeth lothely and fowle / and to hyghe falleth unto lowe / as it apperyth by this fable / Of a fayr tree whiche mocqued and scorned a lytyl busshe and sayd / Seest thow not / my fayre fourme and my fayre fygure / And that of me men and byldeth fayre edefyces as palys and castellis / galeyes & other shippes for to saylle on the see / And as he avaunced & presysed him self thus / came there a labourer with his axe for to hewe and smyte him to the ground / And as the labourer smote upon the fayre tree / the busshe sayd / Certaynly my broder if now thow were as lytel / as I am / men shold not hewe ne smyte the doune to the erthe /
And therfore none oughte to reioysshe hym self of his worship / For suche is now in grete honour and worship / that herafter shalle falle in to grete vytupere shame and dishonour
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The Fir Tree and the Bramble

083. THE FIR TREE AND THE BRAMBLE. A tall, straight fir-tree, that stood towering up in the midst of the forest, was so proud of his dignity and high station, that he overlooked the little shrubs which grew beneath him.
A bramble, being one of the inferior throng, could by no means brook this haughty carriage, and therefore took him to task, and desired to know what he meant by it.
“Because,” says the fir-tree, “I look upon myself as the first tree for beauty and rank of any in the forest; my spring top shoots up into the clouds, and my branches display themselves with a perpetual beauty and verdure; while you lay grovelling upon the ground, liable to be crushed by every foot that comes near you, and impoverished by the luxurious drippings which fall from my leaves.”
“All this may be true,” replies the bramble, “but when the woodman has marked you out for public use, and the sounding axe comes to be applied to your root, I am mistaken if you would not be glad to change conditions with the very worst of us.” [more info]

The Fir and a Bramble

2.18. THE FIR AND A BRAMBLE. My head, says the boasting Fir-tree to the humble Bramble, is advanced among the stars; I furnish beams for palaces, and masts for shipping; the very sweat of my body is a sovereign remedy for the sick and wounded; whereas thou, O rascally Bramble, runnest creeping in the dirt, and art good for nothing in the world but mischief.
I pretend not to vie with thee, said the Bramble, in the points thou gloriest in. But, not to insist upon it, that He who made thee a lofty Fir could have made thee an humble Bramble, I pray thee tell me, when the Carpenter comes next with the axe into the wood, to fell timber, whether thou hadst not rather be a Bramble than a Fir-tree?
MORAL. Poverty secures a man from many dangers; whereas the rich and the mighty are the mark of malice and cross fortune; and still the higher they are, the nearer the thunder. [more info]

The Fir-Tree and the Bramcle

033. 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. [more info]

The FIr and the Bramble

24. THE FIR AND THE BRAMBLE.
The Fir-tree looked down on the Bramble.
"Poor thing only able to scramble
About on the ground."
Just then an axe' sound
Made the Fir wish himself but a Bramble.
PRIDE OF PLACE HAS ITS DISADVANTAGES
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