There stands a great apple tree in the meadow, but it was not always so. On the day the tree was placed in the meadow, it was not more than a skinny branch. For years the meadow fed and watered the little tree. At first the tree had very few leaves and a couple blooms that produced no fruit. As the tree grew, its beauty developed. In the spring and summer it dressed it self in and green splendor and in the fall decorated it self with round red fruit and leaves of all colors.
The tree soon became the most popular thing in the meadow. In the summer people would walk through the meadow to sit under its shade. In the fall they came to eat of its fruit and to look at its beautiful colors. As the tree grew and its popularity grew, its pride also grew.
Early one spring morning the tree said to the meadow, “I am the tallest and most beautiful thing in the meadow. You are lucky that I live here.”
The meadow responded, “You are the tallest.”
“And the most beautiful,” the tree repeated.
“Indeed you add beauty,” the meadow said.
“Why you ungrateful thing,” the tree said. “Every fall I give you my fruit to replenish your soil and my leaves to cover you from the snow. I attract attention to this place. People come to look at me and sit in my shade. What would you do if I was not here?”
“I agree, you give me your leaves and fruit when you no longer have need of them,” said the meadow.
“What! I deliver my leaves and fruit to you,” came from the tree. “You make me work for everything I need. I have to constantly dig deeper and deeper to get enough water to feed my branches and leaves.”
“Yes, you do give me your leaves and fruit when you no longer have need of them. And, yes, you take from me whatever you need. When water is in short supply you dig and poke at me until you get what you need,” said the meadow. “Look around at the grass and the flowers that cover me. They drink the water that is softly laid on us as we sleep that is the dew. The flowers grow up and decorate me with their colors for a season and drop their seeds, then return themselves to me.”
The tree grew angry at the meadow for not recognizing the beauty and the benefits that it provided and for even trying to compare the grass and flowers to its greatness. That night the owl that lives in the barn, at the edge of the meadow, came and sat on the tree. The tree told the owl what had gone on between the meadow and the tree that morning.
The owl said, “it is your attitude that gives you trouble. You say you take what the meadow gives to you of its free will and you say you give what you force on the meadow.”