A Woodman came into a forest to ask the Trees to give him a handle for Ax. It seemed so modest a request that the principal tree at once agreed to it, and it was settled among them that the plain, homely1 Ash should furnish what was wanted. No sooner had the Woodman fitted the staff to his purpose, than he began laying about him on all side. Felling the whole matter too late, whispered to the Cedar2: "The first concession3 has lost all. If we has not a sacrificed our humble4 neighbor, we might have yet stood for ages ourselves."

　　有一個樵夫來到森林里，要求樹給他一跟斧柄，看來他的請求非常謙虛，立刻得到了樹的首領(lǐng)的同意。他們決定由平凡而樸素的白楊樹來提供所需要的東西。樵夫剛安好斧柄，就開始到處亂砍，森林里最高的樹都砍倒了，樹林現(xiàn)在察覺大勢已去，就小聲對衫樹說：“第一次的讓步已失去了一切。如果我們不犧牲我們的小小的鄰居，我們自己還可以活無數(shù)年呢。”