The oaks, the birches and the firs were teasing a weeping willow.
“You are a mess! Are you so lazy that you can’t lift up your branches?”
“And your name isn’t very cheerful!”
The willow replied calmly: “My branches fall to hide the fairies and pixies that come to weep at the end of summer. Their tears give my leaves their beautiful silvery colour.”
The trees were so impressed that they never teased the willows again.
Ever since, they respect the majestic willows that shelter the little people of the forest.