A long time ago a little tree wanted to grow right where a great rock was sitting. She was very tiny, this little tree was, and very timid as well. She approached the great rock very quietly, attempting to be as rock-like as she could (which is not easy for a little tree to do), and she asked him if she could take root right where he was sitting because, after all, it was such a nice spot. The great rock did not answer her, and the little tree thought perhaps she ought to ask louder, and so she did. Still there was no reply from the great rock. And so she asked again and again and again, each time louder until she was shouting terribly (which is not easy for a little tree to do). Yet the great rock said nothing and did not move. Now the little tree became very sad, and when she was finished being very sad, she became angry. So she hopped on top of the great rock and said, "I will grow right here on this very spot," and she said no more to the great rock at all.
And so she grew, and she grew and she grew and she grew. The great rock was a very stubborn rock and he refused to move even a inch. In fact, he decided to continue to ignore the little tree, but the little tree no longer cared and she grew and grew. One day it seems, the little tree was no longer a little tree but had become a great tree, and she placed her roots down right over that rock in all directions, pinning it to its now eternal spot. By the time the rock realized what had happened during his spell of stubbornness, the little tree had become a magnificent tree, and her head was so far into the clouds that she could no longer hear what was being said way down on the ground. No matter what the rock said and no matter how loudly he said it, the tree did not hear. And so there they stayed together, the tree and the rock, an unlikely couple of stubborn disposition on an enchanted island of Maine.
