Summary
Highlights
Two tired and hungry hikers in dry hills spot a tree. One hopes for an apple tree, the other for a pear tree, both wanting fruit to eat.
Upon reaching the tree, they find it's an oak tree with no fruit, leading one hiker to call it 'useless'. Suddenly, the sky turns grey and it begins to rain.
The fable concludes with the moral that 'Sometimes the best gifts aren’t what we originally hoped for', implying that the oak tree, initially deemed useless, provided essential aid.
The hikers quickly run under the oak tree, which acts like a big umbrella, keeping them dry from the heavy rain.
As day turns to night and it gets cold, the hikers use old branches found under the oak tree to build a campfire. They then make a comfortable bed from the soft oak leaves and fall asleep, warm and dry, despite the continued rain and wind.