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     There was an old pear tree in a man's garden. In the past,  the  tree  fruited  every  year, so the man
would  get  many  pears. But  now, the tree got old. There  were  no more  pears  for  the man. So the
ungrateful man decided to cut the tree down. When he walked toward the tree with an axe in his hand,
the tree said to him, "Please don't cut me down. I have borne so many pears for you in the past years.
Now I will die soon. I only have a short time to live. Please don't kill a dying tree that has done so much
for you."
     "I'm sorry. I have to do so," the man said, "because I need wood to make a chair." Then he began to
wave his axe. At that moment, a bird in the old tree shouted at him, "Don't cut it down! Every time you
go out and your wife feels lonely, she will come out to the garden and sit under the tree to enjoy its cool
shade, and I sing songs to make her happy. We give much pleasure to  your  wife  when  you  are away
from home."
     The man didn't listen to the bird and drove it away. Just when he was about to cut the tree, some
bees flew out of it and said, "Listen! If you agree not to kill this tree, we will give you delicious honey
every day. Would you please leave the tree with us?"
     The man got moved. He said, "You are so kind to the tree, although it has become old. Now I see
that I shouldn't cut it down. It has done so much for me and my wife. Let the tree stay here, and let the
bird continue its songs here." With these words, the man left. And the old tree lived there to its last day.