Aesop

The Plane Tree

Summary

The story is a brief fable about two travelers who seek rest under the shade of a Plane Tree during a hot day. While lying beneath its branches, one traveler criticizes the tree as useless because it bears no fruit and merely sheds leaves. Unexpectedly, the Plane Tree responds, pointing out the irony of their ingratitude as it provides them with much-needed shade and comfort. The narrative highlights a moral lesson about appreciation and the tendency for people to overlook the value of blessings and benefits in their lives, particularly when they perceive something as lacking in obvious utility.

Read Online

Two Travellers, walking in the noonday sun, sought the shade of a widespreading tree to rest. As they lay looking up among the pleasant leaves, they saw that it was a Plane Tree.

“How useless is the Plane!” said one of them. “It bears no fruit whatever, and only serves to litter the ground with leaves.”

“Ungrateful creatures!” said a voice from the Plane Tree. “You lie here in my cooling shade, and yet you say I am useless! Thus ungratefully, O Jupiter, do men receive their blessings!”

Related tags
, , , , , , , , , , , , , ,