"A gourd wrapped itself round a lofty palm and in a few weeks climbed to its very top. ‘And how old mayest thou be?’ asked the newcomer; ‘About a hundred years,’ was the answer. ‘A hundred years and no taller? Only look, I have grown as tall as you in fewer days than you can count years.’ ‘I know that well,’ replied the palm; 'every summer of my life a gourd has climbed up round me, as proud as thou art, and as short-lived as thou wilt be.’"