The Little Pine Tree

THE LITTLE PINE TREE Once upon a time there was a little pine tree who lived in the woods. It had no leaves. It had needles. The little tree said, "I do not like needles. All the other trees in the woods have pretty leaves. I want leaves, too. But I will have better leaves than all the other trees. I want gold leaves." The little tree didn’t know it but a fairy from the forest had heard his wish. Night came and the little tree went to sleep. The fairy came by and gave it gold leaves. When the little tree woke it had leaves of gold. It said, "Oh, I am so pretty! No other tree has gold leaves." That night, after the little pine tree had fallen asleep, a man came by. He saw the gold leaves on the little tree and decided that he should have them. He took every single gold leaf from the little tree, put them into his bag and left. When the little tree woke the next morning it found he had no leaves at all. The poor little tree cried, "I do not want gold leaves again. I will have glass leaves." The sad little tree went to sleep. Having heard his cries, the fairy came by again and gave the little tree the glass leaves it wished for. The little tree woke and saw its glass leaves. How pretty they looked in the sunshine! 'No other tree was so bright. Then a wind came up. It blew and blew. The glass leaves, being very fine and delicate, all fell from the tree and were broken. Again the little tree had no leaves. It was very sad, and said, "I will not have gold leaves and I will not have glass leaves. I want green leaves. I want to be like the other trees." And the little tree went to sleep. He was once again visited by the fairy of the forest. When it woke, it was like other trees. It had green leaves. A goat came by. He saw the green leaves on the little tree. The goat was hungry and he ate all the leaves. Then the little tree said, "I do not want any leaves. I will not have green leaves, nor glass leaves, nor gold leaves. I like my needles best." And the little tree went to sleep. The fairy gave the little tree what it wanted. When it woke, it had its needles again. Then the little pine tree was happy.