The Fir and the Bramble
Encyclopedia
The Fir and the Bramble is one of Aesop's Fables
and is numbered 304 in the Perry Index
. It is one of a group in which trees and plants debate together, which also includes The Trees and the Bramble
and The Oak and the Reed
. The contenders in this fable first appear in a Sumer
ian debate poem of some 250 lines dating from about 2100 BCE, in a genre that was ultimately to spread through the Near East
.
. It concerns a fir tree that boasted to a bramble, 'You are useful for nothing at all; while I am everywhere used for roofs and houses.' Then the Bramble answered: 'You poor creature, if you would only call to mind the axes and saws which are about to hew you down, you would have reason to wish that you had grown up a Bramble, not a Fir-Tree.' The moral of the story is that renown is accompanied by risks of which the humble are free.
A similar story about the survival of a useless tree is told by the 4th century BCE Taoist philosopher Chuang Tzu. Its preservation is owed to the fact that it is good for nothing else but providing shade.
Aesop's Fables
Aesop's Fables or the Aesopica are a collection of fables credited to Aesop, a slave and story-teller believed to have lived in ancient Greece between 620 and 560 BCE. The fables remain a popular choice for moral education of children today...
and is numbered 304 in the Perry Index
Perry Index
The Perry Index is a widely-used index of "Aesop's Fables" or "Aesopica", the fables credited to Aesop, the story-teller who lived in ancient Greece between 620 and 560 BC...
. It is one of a group in which trees and plants debate together, which also includes The Trees and the Bramble
The Trees and the Bramble
The Trees and the Bramble is a composite title which covers a number of fables of similar tendency, ultimately deriving from a Western Asian literary tradition of debate poems between two contenders...
and The Oak and the Reed
The Oak and the Reed
The Oak and the Reed is one of Aesop's Fables and is numbered 70 in the Perry Index. It appears in many versions: in some it is with many reeds that the oak converses and in a late rewritten version it disputes with a willow.-The story and its interpretation:...
. The contenders in this fable first appear in a Sumer
Sumer
Sumer was a civilization and historical region in southern Mesopotamia, modern Iraq during the Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age....
ian debate poem of some 250 lines dating from about 2100 BCE, in a genre that was ultimately to spread through the Near East
Near East
The Near East is a geographical term that covers different countries for geographers, archeologists, and historians, on the one hand, and for political scientists, economists, and journalists, on the other...
.
The Fable
There are several versions of the fable in Greek sources and a late Latin version recorded by AvianusAvianus
Avianus, a Latin writer of fables, generally placed in the 5th century, and identified as a pagan.The 42 fables which bear his name are dedicated to a certain Theodosius, whose learning is spoken of in most flattering terms. He may possibly be Macrobius Ambrosius Theodosius, the author of...
. It concerns a fir tree that boasted to a bramble, 'You are useful for nothing at all; while I am everywhere used for roofs and houses.' Then the Bramble answered: 'You poor creature, if you would only call to mind the axes and saws which are about to hew you down, you would have reason to wish that you had grown up a Bramble, not a Fir-Tree.' The moral of the story is that renown is accompanied by risks of which the humble are free.
A similar story about the survival of a useless tree is told by the 4th century BCE Taoist philosopher Chuang Tzu. Its preservation is owed to the fact that it is good for nothing else but providing shade.