A FIR-TREE said boastingly to the Bramble, "You are useful for
nothing at all; while I am everywhere used for roofs and houses."
The Bramble answered:  'You poor creature, if you would only call
to mind the axes and saws which are about to hew you down, you
would have reason to wish that you had grown up a Bramble, not a
Fir-Tree." 


Better poverty without care, than riches with.