ke pains to
grow!'

"And the walnuts waited, and the sun kissed their hard skins, and the
rain refreshed them when dry and thirsty; and still the sparrows mocked
them, and the apple and pear-tree talked to each other over their heads,
for they too looked upon them as a failure. One day the biggest walnut
broke from his stem and dropped in the long grass. No one heeded his
fall except his brothers; the gardener came by and gathered the apples
and pears, but did not look at the walnut-tree; and when he kicked the
fallen walnut with his feet he took no more notice of it than if it had
been a pebble.

"'Is that our fate?' sighed the walnuts. 'Now we know we are no good.
What is the use of trying to grow? What is the good of living at all
when we're so ugly and useless, and the end of us is to lie and rot in
the grass and be kicked by every one who passes?'

"And they wept bitter tears of disappointment and mortification; and one
by one they dropped from the tree and lay unheeded, uncared for on the
ground below.

"Then one morning came up the old crow.

"'Why did you tell us to wait?' cried one walnut in petulant tones.
'We're rotting, dying here, and this is the end of us.'

"'Wait a little longer,' said the crow again; 'it is when we are very
low that we are lifted very high. When we come to an end a new beginning
is coming.'

"The walnuts sighed as he flew away; yet the biggest one turned with a
spark of hope to his brothers.

"'I do believe we have been made for something. My skin is rotting and
dying, but in spite of it all I feel as if I have something inside that
is still alive. Let us wait and be patient a little longer.'

"And then at last one day, when the apple and pear-tree were fruitless
and leafless, when the flowers and butterflies and bees had all
disappeared, down the garden came the master himself and the gardener.

"He stopped when he came to the walnut-tree, and stooping down in the
long grass he gently raised one of the fallen nuts.

"'You must gather these in,' he said to his gardener; 'we have a good
many for the first year.'

"'Yes,' said the gardener, 'they are ready now. I've let them lie till
you saw them.'

"And the walnuts whispered to themselves in surprised delight that it
was not neglect and indifference had left them there, but that the
gardener had watched each one fall, and knew where to find them when
their time came at last.

"And when their green husks were removed, a