An elderly man lived near a forest. As he grew older, he began to lose his hair, until he was entirely bald on his deathbed. He summoned his children to a meeting that day.
He explained, “Take a look at my hair. It was once wonderful, but it is now completely gone. My hair is beyond repair. However, take a look outside at the forest. It’s a beautiful forest with many trees, but they’ll all be taken down sooner or later, and this forest will be as bald as my hair.”
“What I want you to do…” said the man. “Is to plant a new tree in my memory every time a tree is cut down or dies. Tell your heirs to do the same. It will be our family’s responsibility to maintain this forest strong.”
That is precisely what they did.
When the forest lost a tree, the children replanted one, as did their children, and their children’s children, and so on.
And for centuries, the forest remained as lush and pretty as it once was, all because of one man and his re-seeding heirline.
i tell a version of this at dinner parties, takes 15 minutes and people generally want to throw things at me after
i tell a version of this at dinner parties, takes 15 minutes and people generally want to throw things at me after
This is an example of a “shaggy dog story”, which is an extremely long-winded anecdote with lots of unnecessary detail and description, only to end on a cheap pun or anticlimax.
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