In ancient time, two acorns, in their cups,

Shaken by winds and ripeness from the tree,

Dropped side by side into the ferns and grass;

"Where have I fallen—to what base region come?"

Exclaimed the one. "The joyous breeze no more

Rocks me to slumber on the sheltering bough;

The sunlight streams no longer on my face;

I look no more from altitudes serene

Upon the world reposing far below—

Its plains, its hills, its rivers, and its woods.

To me the nightingale sings hymns no more;

But I am made companion of the worm,

And rot on the chill earth. Around me grow

Nothing but useless weeds, and grass, and fern,

Unfit to hold companionship with me.

Ah, me! most wretched! rain and frost and dew

And all the pangs and penalties of earth

Corrupt me where I lie—degenerate."

And thus the acorn made its daily moan.

The other raised no murmur of complaint

And looked with no contempt upon the grass

Nor called the branching fern a worthless weed

Nor scorned the woodland flowers that round it blew.

All silently and piously it lay

Upon the kindly bosom of the earth.

It blessed the warmth with which the noonday sun

Made fruitful all the ground; it loved the dews,

The moonlight and the snow, the frost and rain

And all the change of seasons as they passed.

It sank into the bosom of the soil.

The bursting life, enclosed within its husk,

Broke through its fetters; it extended roots

And twined them freely in the grateful ground;

It sprouted up and looked upon the light;

The sunshine fed it; the embracing air

Endowed it with vitality and strength;

The rains of heaven supplied it nourishment.

And so from month to month, and year to year,

It grew in beauty and in usefulness,

Until its large circumference enclosed

Shelter for flocks and herds; until its boughs

Afforded homes for happy multitudes—

The dormouse and the chaffinch and the jay

And countless myriads of minuter life;

Until its bole, too vast for the embrace

Of human arms, stood, in the forest depths,

The model and glory of the wood.

Its sister acorn perished in its pride.