Page:Jewish Fairy Book (Gerald Friedlander).djvu/181

 XVIII IRON AND THE TREES

N the same day when the Holy One formed the trees He also made iron and other metals. Now the trees were very proud to find that they were taller than any creatures made by God. They looked at the hills and mountains and said: "They are of course very big, but we shall grow taller and taller and one day we shall be able to look down upon them." The cedars even boasted saying: "We shall soon grow as high as the heavens and our roots will stretch from one end of the earth to the other. Then shall we be kings of the earth."

At that moment the Spirit of Meekness passed by and heard the foolish boast of the trees. In a very gentle voice the Spirit said to the cedars:

"Why don't you look at your roots; do you know what is hidden beneath them?"

"No. We cannot see what is hidden deep down in the earth. Our heads are too high up in the sky."

"Well, just let me look for you. Shall I tell you what I see?"

"Please do look and tell us what is hidden beneath our roots."

"I see a lot of metal ore, called iron." 157