XV 



THE COCONUT TREE 



Among the classic fairy-tales which passed like 

 shooting stars across those dark hours of our boy- 

 hood in which we wrestled with the grim rudiments 

 of Latin and Greek, and which abide in the memory 

 after nearly all that they helped to brighten has 

 passed away, there was one which related to a con- 

 test between Neptune and Minerva as to which 

 should confer the greatest benefit on the human 

 race. Neptune first struck his trident on the ground 

 (or was it on the waves? " Eheu fugaces" — no, 

 that also is gone), and there sprang forth a noble 

 steed, pawing the ground, terrible in war and no 

 less useful in peace. Then the watery god leaned 

 back and smiled as if he would say, " Now, beat 

 that." But the Goddess of Wisdom brought out of 

 the earth a modest, dark tree bearing olives and, in 

 classic phrase, " took the cake.' ' Oriental mythology 

 is more luxuriant and fantastic than that of the 

 West, but I do not know if it has any legend parallel 

 to this. If it has, then I am sure the palm is awarded 

 to the deity who gave to the human race the tree 

 that bears the coconut. 



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