The Garden · An Aesopic fable
A great oak stood beside a brook. Nearby, slender reeds moved with the wind.
The oak looked down on them. Even a small breeze made them bow, while it remained upright.
Then a violent storm arrived.
The reeds bent low. The oak resisted.
The wind grew stronger until the tree was torn from its roots.
Beside the fallen oak, the reeds had survived.
Strength is not always resistance.
AlrewaqA great oak stood beside a brook. Nearby, slender reeds moved with the wind.
The oak looked down on them. Even a small breeze made them bow, while it remained upright.
Then a violent storm arrived.
The reeds bent low. The oak resisted.
The wind grew stronger until the tree was torn from its roots.
Beside the fallen oak, the reeds had survived.
Strength is not always resistance.
AlrewaqAn original Alrewaq retelling of an Aesopic fable, following The Aesop for Children (1919). The oak and reeds are a literary image, not a botanical rule. The reflection considers flexibility, not an obligation to accept harm or abandon one’s principles. The artwork places the fable beside a brook in Alrewaq’s imagined Garden.