The fence had been on that farmers field for over seventy years.

It was a good, sturdy, metal wire fence that marked a long-forgotten boundary between two fields. Birds perched on this fence and chattered amongst themselves everyday.

They would fly off and return, and fly off again.

And the fence remained. One day, the farmer went to his field. He looked at it and thought how marvelous it would be to cover it in oak trees. He did not want to plant young trees; he wanted to sow his field with oak seeds and let them live out their full lives on that field. He knew that he, probably, would not live long enough to see them grow to maturity, but this did not bother him. His children would, and their children would. The birds would continue to visit the fence. So, he set about planting the seeds. He spread them far and wide over that field. Now, one seed in particular managed to land right beneath the wire fence. The farmer did not see this; he cared only about sowing the seeds, fall where they may. The birds that day saw this seed fall beneath fence, and they started to chatter amongst themselves about the fate of this seed. That seed will grow, but once it reaches that fence, it will be bent, and it will eventually die. All but one bird thought this would happen. That bird saw that seed and knew that it would grow up tall and strong and full of life, just like its tree friends elsewhere in the field would. The trees grew. And grew. The farmer died, and the trees kept growing. His children would come and visit the trees, the birds, the fence. They also saw that one young tree beneath the fence. That tree will grow, and once it reaches that fence, it will be bent, and it will die. The next year, the birds were on the fence, and the children were visiting, and all were at the spot of the young tree beneath the fence.

The wise bird just smiled at what he saw. The other birds and the farmers children stood with their eyes wide at what they saw. The little tree had not bent, and it had not died; it had grown tall and strongright through the fence, and the fence through it. Neither the tree nor the fence had been disturbed from their true paths. They had merged into one complete being. The good, sturdy, metal wire fence continued to mark the long-forgotten boundary, and the tree grew taller and more magnificent, and provided wonderful shade for the birds and the farmers children.