18

THE SNAIL AND THE ROSE TREE.

ROUND the garden ran a hedge of hazels ; beyond this
hedge lay fields and meadows, wherein were cows and
sheep ; but in the midst of the garden stood a blooming
Rose Tree ; and under this Rose Tree lived a Snail, who had a
good deal in his shell—namely, himself.

“Wait till my time comes !” he said : “I shall do something
more than produce roses, bear nuts, or give milk, like the Rose
Tree, the hazel bush, and the cows!”

“T expect a great deal of you,” said the Rose Tree. “But
may I ask when it will appear?”

“I take my time,” replied the Snail. “ You’re always in such
a hurry. You don’t rouse people’s interest by suspense.”

When the next year came, the Snail lay almost in the same
spot, in the sunshine under the Rose Tree, which again bore
buds that bloomed into roses, until the snow fell and the weather
became raw and cold ; then the Rose Tree bowed its head and
the Snail crept into the ground.

A new year began, and the roses came out, and the Snail
came out also.

“Youre an old Rose Tree now!” said the Snail. “You must
make haste and come to an end, for you have given the world
all that was in you: whether it was of any use is a question that
[ have had no time to consider ; but so much is clear and plain,
that you have done nothing at all for your own development, or
you would have produced something else. How can you answer
for that? In a little time you will be nothing at all but a stick.
Do you understand what I say?”

“You alarm me!” replied the Rose Tree. “I never thought
cf that at all.” :

“No, you have not taken the trouble to consider anything.
Have you ever given an account to yourself, why you bloomed,
and how is it that your blooming comes about—why it is thus,
and not otherwise?” ‘

“No,” answered the Rose Tree. “1 bloomed in gladness,
because I could not do anything else. The sun shone and
warmed me, and the air refreshed me. I drank the pure dew
and the fresh rain, and I lived, I breathed. Out of the earth
there arose a power within me, from above there came down a
strength: I perceived a new ever-increasing happiness, and
consequently I was obliged to bloom over and over again ; that
was my life: I could not do otherwise.”

“You have led a very pleasant life,” observed the Snail

“Certainly. Everything I have was given to me,” said the
Rose Tree. “ But more still was given to you. You are one of