:10bux:
The Useless Tree.
There was an old and crooked oak tree by the village shrine, every branch twisted and gnarled. The tree was large enough to shade several thousand oxen and was a hundred spans around. It towered above the hilltops with its lowest branches eighty feet from the ground. More than ten of its branches were big enough to be made into boats. There were crowds of people around it, a marketplace.
Passing the old tree, Hui Tzu, a carpenter’s apprentice said to Shih, the master carpenter, who without even turning his head, walked on without stopping:
“What a useless tree that is. Its trunk and branches were so crooked, so distorted and full of knots. The wood is so beautiful, but it cannot be cut up, no straight plank can be made from it. The tree serves no purpose at all.
*There it stands beside the road. No carpenter will even look at it. Even you don’t look at it master.” *
Shih the master carpenter replied:
*“The tree on the mountain height is its own enemy… The cinnamon tree is edible: so it is cut down! The lacquer tree is profitable: they maim it. Cherry, apple, pear, orange, lemon, pomelo, and other fruit trees. As soon as the fruit is ripe, the trees are stripped and abused. *
Their large branches are split, and the smaller ones torn off. Their life is bitter because of their usefulness. That is why they do not live out their natural lives but are cut off in their prime. They attract the attentions of the common world. This is so for all things.
That tree is useless. A boat made from it would sink, a coffin would soon rot, a tool would split, a door would ooze sap, and a beam would have termites. It’s worthless timber and is of no use. That is why it has reached such a ripe old age.
Every man knows how useful it is to be useful. No one seems to know how useful it is to be useless.
This tree has been trying for a long time to be useless. It was almost destroyed several times. Finally it useless, and this is very useful.
So for this big tree, no use? It is planted in the wasteland, in emptiness. People walk idly around it, rest under its shadow. No axe or bill prepares its end. No one will ever cut it down.
Useless? You should worry!”
Isn’t a wizard supposed to be the 7th son of a 7th son?
Of course you could still slaughter sons 3-6 at birth.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seventh_son_of_a_seventh_son
I was making a Terry Pratchett Discworld reference, but Terry was making a reference to the belief here on Roundworld.
Reminder of the fetal cannibalism orgasms drow lore from Dragon Magazine.
https://www.realmshelps.net/charbuild/races/elf/drow1.shtml
Scroll down to “Bloodied From the Birth-Sac”
Um, fratricide is a real world practice.
In fact, the Kafes of the Ottoman Empire were an effort to stop the ritual of a successor king having all his brothers executed. Instead, extra heirs would be locked up in a nice dwelling full of harem women. They went mad.
And now they are a tourist attraction and a footnote of history.
What are you replying to? I don’t give a shit about fratricide. A woman orgasming because the fetuses inside her are murdering each other is the part I have a big problem with.
That’s fucking dark. I’m not sure what is worse. Death or caged for your entire life.
Better not let Andrew Wiggin hear you say that.
Ender only has one elder brother
Unless there’s a 9th book that retconned that
