the old man took a young tree, put it in a hole, drove in a post beside it, and when he had shovelled in some earth and had trampled it firmly down, he tied the stem of the tree above, below, and in the middle, fast to the post by a rope of straw. "but tell me," said the stranger, "why you don’t tie that crooked knotted tree, which is lying in the corner there, bent down almost to the ground, to a post also that it may grow straight, as well as these?" the old man smiled and said, "sir, you speak according to your knowledge, it is easy to see that you are not familiar with gardening. that tree there is old, and mis-shapen, no one can make it straight now. trees must be trained while they are young." "that is how it was with your son," said the stranger, "if you had trained him while he was still young, he would not have run away; now he too must have grown hard and mis-shapen."