There was an inexperienced farmer who understood nothing about farming.
One day he saw his neighbor trimming his apple trees, cutting back the bad branches.
"Why are you destroying your trees?" asked the inexperienced farmer.
"I'm not destroying them; I'm pruning them," replied the farmer. "My trees will bear more fruit as a result!"
The inexperienced farmer rushed home and cut the branches off his apple trees too, both good branches and bad.
When it came time to harvest the apples, he was disappointed to discover that his trees had produced no fruit.
Be careful when you imitate an expert.
Inspired by: Mille Fabulae et Una, a collection of Latin fables that I've edited, free to read online. I am not translating the Latin here; instead, I am just telling a 100-word version of the fable.
Notes: This is fable 839 in the book, which is not in Perry; the story is from the neo-Latin fabulist Desbillons.
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