Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale “Buckwheat“ personifies what unbecoming self-importance looks like. He demonstrates how improper pride is dangerous because it leads one to take an irrational, or exaggerated, view of oneself, including feeling superior to others.
A farmer owns a field full of rye, wheat, oats, and buckwheat. Beside this field, looking fondly upon the crops, is an extremely old willow tree with a cleft in the middle of its trunk and “grass and blackberry tendrils creep[ing] out through the cleft.”
