An old Oak dropped an acorn under a Hazelbush. The Hazelbush said to the Oak:
“Have you not enough space under your own branches? Drop your acorns in an open space. Here I am myself crowded by my shoots, and I do not drop my nuts to the ground, but give them to men.”
“I have lived for two hundred years,” said the Oak, “and the Oakling which will sprout from that acorn will live just as long.”
Then the Hazelbush flew into a rage, and said:
“If so, I will choke your Oakling, and he will not live for three days.”
The Oak made no reply, but told his son to sprout out of that acorn. The acorn got wet and burst, and clung to the ground with his crooked rootlet, and sent up a sprout.