The tale is told that a small bird broke its wing while flying south for winter. The bird asks the deciduous trees to allow her to winter among their branches, but the trees are unkind. The birch tree is afraid of having its beauty spoiled, while the oak tree worries that the bird will eat all of its acorns. Even the willow tree refuses to aid the small stranger.
The mighty spruce tree sees the small bird and offers it a thick, warm branch for winter. A neighbouring pine offers to shield the spruce and the bird from winter's north winds, and a juniper tree offers its berries for food.
The Frost King is so impressed by their generosity that he instructed the north wind to leave the trees alone through the winter. The bird thus came through the winter safely, and the evergreens were spared winter's effects without losing a single needle.
In payment for their kindness, the spruce, pine and juniper remain forever green and immune to winter's severity. The bird lived happily ever after.
And the deciduous trees? Because of their selfishness, they lose their leaves every autumn and must suffer, naked, through the freezing winter.
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