A luxuriantly grown loach lifted up its delicate emerald foliage, sparkling in the sun. Admiring his own beauty, he became so proud that he could hardly stand the proximity of other plants. What especially annoyed him with its equanimity was the old, withered trunk that stood nearby.
- Listen to me, old man! - the loach turned to him one day. - Why are you sticking out under my feet? It's time to know the honor. Get out of my sight!
The old trunk pretended not to hear the rude man and remained silent, thinking about his own things. Then the restless loach turned to the thorn bush, whose dense thickets stood around like a solid wall.
- Hey, what about you, blackthorn! Life, brother, is gone from your nasty thorns - it dazzles your eyes. Don't you realize that with your branches you will obscure my light? Turn them aside!
But the thorn tree, busy with its own business, did not even consider it necessary to respond to such words, letting them fall on deaf ears.
The old lizard, basking in the sun, could not stand it and said reproachfully:
- How stupid you are, braggart loach, how I look at you! After all, thanks to the old trunk, you grow straight and stretch upward, clinging to it. Don’t you realize that if it weren’t for the thorny thickets of thorns, you, little little thing, would have been trampled by uninvited guests long ago?
The indignant loach wanted to object, but the lizard did not allow him to open his mouth.
- My eyes would not look at you! Instead of puffing up and reaching up in vain, it would be better to gain some sense from the neighbors.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru