In the middle of a large forest, a proud redwood towered to the skies and looked down on all the other trees. No one had ever been able to cut the redwood down. Its trunk was so thick, that several woodsmen had given up in the attempt.

One day, a lumberjack came along and tried his luck with chopping down the tree. “Ha, ha, ha,” the redwood laughed. “Do you think your little axe can do anything against my mighty trunk?”

“No,” the woodsman replied, “yet, I am still mightier than you.”

“How so?”

“I can bring down several trees in a few hours. Can you do that?”

“I can do even better,” the redwood replied. “I can bring down several trees in a few minutes.”

“I do not believe you.”

“I will show you,” the redwood replied. “Step aside.”

The woodsman took cover as the redwood took a deep breathe, and started swaying from side to side. It swung this way and that, until, with a mighty crack, its trunk snapped in two and the redwood crashed to the ground. It smashed several dozen trees on its way down, splintering and flattening them beneath its boughs and trunk.

“How long did that take?” the proud redwood asked.

“Still a longer time than me.”

“But I only took a few minutes to do what would take you hours?”

“You foolish tree,” the tricky woodsman replied. “It took me only a few seconds to convince you to fell all these trees for me, including yourself.”