Aesop’s Fables: Our Best Blessings Are Often the Least Appreciated

Take a moment to count your blessings. Be humble and grateful!
Aesop’s Fables: Our Best Blessings Are Often the Least Appreciated
"The Plane Tree,” illustrated by Milo Winter, from “The Aesop for Children,” 1919. (PD-US)
Epoch Inspired Staff
11/29/2023
Updated:
11/29/2023
0:00

Two Travelers, walking in the noonday sun, sought the shade of a widespreading tree to rest. As they lay looking up among the pleasant leaves, they saw that it was a Plane Tree.

“How useless is the Plane!” said one of them. “It bears no fruit whatever, and only serves to litter the ground with leaves.”

“Ungrateful creatures!” said a voice from the Plane Tree. “You lie here in my cooling shade, and yet you say I am useless! Thus ungratefully, O Jupiter, do men receive their blessings!”

Our best blessings are often the least appreciated.

"The Plane Tree,” illustrated by Milo Winter, from “The Aesop for Children,” 1919. (PD-US)
"The Plane Tree,” illustrated by Milo Winter, from “The Aesop for Children,” 1919. (PD-US)
This fable is reproduced from The Project Gutenberg eBook of “The Aesop for Children” (1919).
Aesop (c. 620–564 B.C.) was a Greek storyteller credited with a number of fables now collectively known as “Aesop’s Fables.” His tales, with their moral value, have long influenced our culture and civilization, contributing not only to the education and moral character building of children, but also, with their universal appeal, to the self-reflection of adults alike who have chosen to embrace the virtues or heed the warnings within.
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Epoch Inspired staff cover stories of hope that celebrate kindness, traditions, and triumph of the human spirit, offering valuable insights into life, culture, family and community, and nature.
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