One winter, when the birds were all leaving for south and warmer areas,
one little bird broke its wing on the way and was left behind. Soon
frost and snow covered the forest and she was cold and hungry. So she
asked the trees to help her and let her stay in its branches. However,
the threes are not always kind. The birch tree was proud of being
beautiful and haughtily replied to the bird's pleas by saying that he
could not possibly help him because he had to look after the birds of
the forest first. The strong oak tree was reluctant because it was
afraid that the bird would have to live there till spring time and would
eat up some of its acorns. Even the willow tree that seemed to be gentle
otherwise refused to help or even talk to the strangers.
The poor bird was in much distress and tried to fly some more but her
wing was still not fit for the purpose. Seeing her struggling like this,
the spruce tree asked her, why she seems so downcast. When the bird
revealed her miseries, it offered her the thickest, softest and warmest
branch to stay. The bird was really glad to find some help. Inspired by
the kindness of spruce tree, the big and strong pine tree also
volunteered to protect the spruce tree and the bird from the North Wind
all through the winters. The little juniper tree also piped in to offer
its berries to the bird to quench her hunger. So, the bird lived
comfortably there and flew away again at springtime, when its wing
healed again.
The Frost King, who kept close note of the behavior of all trees,
strictly instructed the North Wind not to touch even a single leaf of
the kind spruce, pine and juniper trees; while he was free to play havoc
with the leaves of other trees. The North Wind especially enjoyed in
plucking the shining, green leaves of the willow, oak and bird trees and
leaving them bare for the winters, with nothing to protect them from
snow, rain and sleet. It is for this kindness that the leaves of the
spruce, the pine, and the juniper are always green and they are known as
evergreen trees.
Legend of the Evergreen Trees