The Oak and the Reed from Aesop's Fables

     The Oak spoke one day to the Reed
     "You have good reason to complain;
     A Wren for you is a load indeed;
     The smallest wind bends you in twain.
     You are forced to bend your head;
     While my crown faces the plains
     And not content to block the sun
     Braves the efforts of the rains.
     What for you is a North Wind is for me but a zephyr.
     Were you to grow within my shade
     Which covers the whole neighbourhood
     You'd have no reason to be afraid
     For I would keep you from the storm.
     Instead you usually grow
     In places humid, where the winds doth blow.
     Nature to thee hath been unkind."
     "Your compassion", replied the Reed
     "Shows a noble character indeed;
     But do not worry: the winds for me
     Are much less dangerous than for thee;
     I bend, not break.  You have 'til now
     Resisted their great force unbowed,
     But beware.
     As he said these very words
     A violent angry storm arose.
     The tree held strong; the Reed he bent.
     The wind redoubled and did not relent,
     Until finally it uprooted the poor Oak
     Whose head had been in the heavens
     And roots among the dead folk.

Explicitly in reply to the UPDATE.

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