An old man was once walking with a little boy. They came across four shrubs. The old man said to his youthful companion:
“Pull up the least one.”
He obeyed with ease.
“Now the next.”
He obeyed, but it did not come so easily.
“And the third.”
It took all his strength to move its roots, but he succeeded.
“Now the fourth.”
In vain the lad put forth all his strength. He only made the leaves tremble. He could not move the roots. They had gone strongly into the earth, and no effort could dislodge them.
Then the wise old man said to the ardent youth: