The Old Man Who Planted Trees Fairy Tale

Long ago there lived a just and wise shah. He did not like to sit in his palace, and he often dressed in plain clothes and travelled around his country. "I must see with my own eyes how my people live," he used to say.

One spring the shah set out to visit the villages with two trusted ministers. It was a hot day, and the road was dusty. At the edge of a small village they saw a bent old man digging the ground with a hoe. His beard was white and his hands were covered in wrinkles. Beside him stood a young walnut sapling.

The shah got down from his horse and greeted him. "God give you strength, grandfather! What are you doing?" "I am planting a walnut tree, my son," said the old man, who did not recognise the shah.

The shah was surprised. "Grandfather, a walnut tree needs ten or even twenty years to bear fruit. You must be over ninety. You may never taste its nuts. Why do you work so hard?"

The old man put down his hoe, wiped his forehead and answered with a smile, "My son, when I was little, I played in the shade of a walnut tree my grandfather had planted, and I ate its nuts. My grandfather never tasted them, but he was thinking of us. Those who came before us planted, and we ate. Now we plant, and those who come after us will eat. That is how life goes on."

The shah liked this answer very much. He made a sign to his minister, who gave the old man a purse of gold. "This is for your wisdom, grandfather," said the shah.

The old man took the gold and laughed. "You see, my son? You said my tree would bear no fruit. Other people's trees bear fruit after ten years, but mine is not even in the ground yet and it has already given a harvest today!"

The shah laughed again and made another sign to his minister. The minister held out a second purse. The old man took that too. "Wonderful! Other trees bear fruit once a year. But mine has given a harvest twice in one day."

The shah roared with laughter, leapt onto his horse and said, "Let's ride on quickly, or this wise man will take my whole treasury!" And they went on their way.

On the road the shah said to his ministers, "Today we have learned a great lesson. Whoever rules a country must think not only of his own day, but of the generations to come. I too want to plant walnut trees for my country." That very year he built many schools and planted orchards all over the land.

With the gold he had been given, the old man planted an orchard for the whole village, and together with the children he planted walnut, apple and apricot trees. Year after year the orchard grew, and many generations played in its shade and ate its fruit. They say it is still called "the Old Man's Orchard" to this day.