One year, the autumn and winter were terrible, and the tree, without its leaves, was going to die of cold. A little girl, who went to live with her grandma that winter, found the tree shivering, so she went to get a great big scarf to warm the tree up. The Spirit of the Forest appeared and told the little girl why that tree was so solitary, and why no one would help him. Even so, the girl decided to put the scarf on the tree.
The next springtime, the tree had learned from the girl's generosity, and when she sat next to the trunk the tree bent down to shade her from the sun. The Spirit of the Forest saw this and went to tell all the animals. He told them that from then on they would be able to shade themselves well, because the tree had learned that having kind and generous beings around makes the world a much better place to live in.
To date, the Gladometer is the only contraption ever built capable of measuring joy and happiness.
So, one by one, the children demonstrated their own particular talents to their parents. And the Gladometer faithfully measured their parents' reactions.
One boy turned up with a trained pig; the pig sang and danced. A girl came and played the violin like an angel, and an intelligent boy came and read his very big book. The parent's happiness was plain to see.
Finally, a boy came to the Gladometer carrying nothing. Nor did he know how to do anything. When the organisers asked him what he was going to do, he simply said:
"I am very obedient."
This said, the machine measured such a high reading that it began violently vibrating, and finally exploded. The boy who had done nothing won all the prizes that day, for solving the mystery of what pleases parents the most.
