The Crooked Tree

In a forest, all the trees were tall and straight.  

They reached up to the sky like slim needles. 

But, in the middle of the forest, there was one tree which was crooked. 

Its roots stuck out of the ground, its branches grew out in all odd directions, and its bark was as bent as an old woman’s back. 

The crooked tree was very unhappy. 

It said to itself, “How ugly I am! Why cannot I be like the other trees that grow tall and straight? Why am I so crooked?”

One day, a woodcutter came into the forest. 

He saw the crooked tree and said, “I will cut all the trees in this forest except this crooked one. It is of no use to me.”

So he cut all the trees and left the crooked one to grow in all directions. 

The crooked tree, for the first time, rejoiced in being crooked. 


(Retold)