a fairy tale because i feel like it

once upon a time, there was a tree.
a little tree that lived at the top of a tall, cold mountain.
often the little tree was surrounded in fog. for a very long time, the little tree thought it was all alone on the cold, hard mountain.
one day, the sun came out and drove all the fog away, and the little tree saw that there were other trees all around it.
and it was happy.

one day, a bird came to the little tree and told it a story:

"there was a fish that lived in the sea, and it had the most beautiful silver scales. many men would try to find and capture the silver-scaled fish because it was so beautiful. these men thought that by capturing the fish, they could have whatever they wanted. one day, a young man caught it. he had never seen such a fish! not knowing that it was a highly prized fish that everyone was seeking, the young man took it home and put in a clay pot. the next morning he awoke and ran to see if the fish was still there. when he saw that it was, he decided to take it to the palace as a gift for the king. the princess saw it first, loved it, and decided to marry the young man. they kept the fish in a pond behind the palace and no one ever knew."

the tree didn't like the story, so it shook the bird off, dried up and died.

there was a bare spot on the high, cold mountain where the little tree had once been.