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Aesop's Fables, translated by Laura Gibbs (2002)

201. THE TREES AND THE BRAMBLE BUSH
Perry 213 (Chambry 324 *)

The pomegranate and the apple tree were debating about their beauty. They had both gone on at great length arguing back and forth when a bramble bush in a nearby hedge heard them and said, 'Dear friends, let us put a stop to our quarrel.'
The fable shows that when there is a dispute among sophisticated people, then riff-raff also try to act important.

Note: For a similar story about a crab who gets involved in a dispute between dolphins and whales, see Fable 220. Other versions of this fable include the olive tree amongst the disputants (for an elaborate debate between the laurel and the olive, see Callimachus, Iamb. 4 = Perry 439).

Source: Aesop's Fables. A new translation by Laura Gibbs. Oxford University Press (World's Classics): Oxford, 2002.
NOTE: New cover, with new ISBN, published in 2008; contents of book unchanged.