Tom with his axe was stepping through the wood, a sapling called to him, and stopped him on his way,“Do clear away those trees, kind friend, I wish you would！

　　They will not let me have free play, on me the sunlight cannot fall. To spread my roots, I find no room at all, no whisper of the wind about me plays, and they twine above my head a veritable maze.

　　I tell you, but for them, if I could only start, you'd find me in a year the pride of all this part. The dell to right and left my friendly shade should cover, but as it is, you see！ I'm brushwood—little over.”

　　Then Tom, he swung his axe apace, his kindness did not waver, and to do a friend this favour, and round the little tree he cleared a tidy space.

　　Poor Sapling！ Not for long his triumph lasted, the heat came first, his sap to drain, and then he was lashed with hail and rain, and last a dreadful storm, which left him quite dismasted！

　　“Oh foolish one,”heard by a serpent,“it was you that brought about your fall.

　　If longer in the wood's kind shelter you'd been reared, then neither heat nor wind your calm could so importune: you had the elder trees for guardians of your fortune, and if there came a time when all had disappeared, because their day was past and gone.

　　In turn you might have reached such height, as years went on, and so much health and strength have gathered. That all this harm would never have been done, and fiercer storms than this you might have safely weathered.”

　　汤姆带着斧子穿过树林时，一棵小树叫他，他就停下了脚步。“好心人，帮我砍掉那些树吧，我希望你能帮我这个忙！

　　它们让我无法自由地玩耍，阳光照不到我的身上，我的根也无法延伸。我完全没有空间了，四周密不透风，它们在我头顶结成天罗地网。

　　我告诉你，要不是它们，一年之内，你会发现我才是这里的骄傲，我的枝叶将会遮蔽山谷的左右两旁。然而，你看，现在我只是小灌木。”

　　于是，汤姆挥动他的斧子。为帮助朋友，他义不容辞！他在小树的周围开辟出了一片干净的地方。

　　可怜的小树！好景不长，先是酷热降临，吸走了它的汁液。接着它又遭受了暴雨和冰雹的袭击，最后一场致命的风暴把它的枝叶都打折了！

　　“傻瓜！”它听到附近的一条蛇说道，“你是自作自受！

　　如果你在养育你的老树怀抱里待更长的时间，无论炎炎烈日还是狂风大作，你都可以在老树的庇护下安然度日。如果有一天那些老树都离开了这个世界，随着时间的流逝，你也长到它们那样的高度了。

　　你也变得像它们那样强壮有力，那样即使比这更大的风暴，你也可以挺过去，而不会是今天这样的结果。”

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