The Useless Tree
A master carpenter was traveling through the countryside with his apprentice when they came upon a village gathered beneath an enormous tree.
Its trunk was so wide that several people joining hands could not reach around it. Its branches twisted high above the shrine, spreading shade across the village square.
“Master, look at that marvelous tree!”
With a quiet scoff, the carpenter kept walking.
“You hardly looked.”
“I looked enough.”
“But it is enormous.”
“That does not make it good timber. The trunk is knotted. The branches twist in every direction.”
“So it is useless?”
“Completely.”
They continued on.
That night, the tree entered the carpenter’s dream.