The Fir-Tree and the Bramble

by Aesop

A FIR TREE said boastingly to the Bramble: You are useful for nothing at all, while I am everywhere used for roofs and houses. The Bramble made answer: You poor creature, if you would only call to mind the axes and saws which are about to hew you down, you would have reason to wish that you had grown up a Bramble, not a Fir Tree.

Moral:
Better poverty without care, than riches with.

Source:

Aesop's Fables
Copyright 1881
Translator: unknown
WM. L. Allison, New York
Illustrator: Harrison Weir, John Tenniel, Ernest Griset, et.al.