The Crooked Willow Tree

Once upon a time, there was a big, crooked willow tree on the bank of a river. It was so gnarled, and bent so far over, that there was barely any space separating it from the water.  People used to walk up and down the riverbank, and sometimes commented on the strange tree, but no one ever wondered why it bent so far.

Once a poor man came along and said, "I do believe this willow tree is thirsty!  No matter how far he bends down, he never makes it far enough to drink!”  Disturbed, he returned to town and went straight to the judge.  He asked the judge to gather together eight people in addition to the two of them for a task, and so the judge did.  Then the poor man said that they should all go together to chop down the tree and tip it over into the river so it could drink as much as it wanted, and then they should stand it back the way it was.

So the ten men went down to the riverbank, gathered themselves, and sawed the entire tree down.  Once it had fallen into the river, they saw that the tree had not been dry at all on the inside, but rather so wet and waterlogged that it was nearly dripping.  So the man who had asked the men to chop the tree down said to the judge, "Look, your honor, at how greedily this poor tree is drinking up all the water.  See how thirsty he must have been!  Well, let's leave it here for a week, and then we'll take it out of the river and stand it back up again.  Let's go home now."

But the judge replied, "Let's first count that we're all here, the ten of us - to make sure none of us has fallen into the water or had the tree pull him in."

So he starts to count.  He gets to nine but forgets to count himself.  He does it again and again, but it's always come out to only nine.  He put his hands to his head and started screaming in desperation.  "Oh, the horror, one man has fallen into the water!  I was responsible for all ten of us, now I can't return home.  My honor and good reputation is gone!"

Then the others begin to count, but all of them only get to nine too.  So the first man says, "Well, I can't go home either, because I'm the one who thought this whole plan up.  I'm the responsible one."

So one man finally says, "You know what?  Let's smooth down the clay on the riverbank really smoothly, then lie on our stomachs.  Then we can poke our noses into the ground, and then count how many holes there are in the mud."

So they did.  They lay on their stomachs and thrust their noses into the ground.  They counted them - and lo and behold, there were ten of them.

They were overjoyed and started to dance around in their merriment.  "We have all ten, we have all ten!" 

And then they went home, and they're still there at home - unless they've since died.