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

82. THE TRAVELLERS AND THE PLANE TREE
Perry 175 (Chambry 257)

Around noon on a summer's day, some travellers who were exhausted by the heat caught sight of a plane tree. They went and lay down in the shade of the tree in order to rest. Looking up at the tree, they remarked to one another that the plane tree produced no fruit and was therefore useless to mankind. The plane tree interrupted them and said, 'What ungrateful people you are! You denounce my uselessness and lack of fruit at the very moment in which you are enjoying my kindness!'
Likewise, even when a person treats his neighbours well, his goodness can unfortunately be called into question.

Note: In order to express the lack of gratitude shown to him by the Athenians, the great general Themistocles (d. 460 B.C.E.) compared himself to a plane tree whose good services were not appreciated (Plutarch, Themistocles 18).


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.