Two sages sat under a tree for as long as they could remember. One day they struck up a conversation. “Say,” said one of them, “was it you or was it I who came here first?” The other sage assumed a puzzled expression: “Why, I believe we came here together.” After a long pause, the sage who spoke first broke the silence again: “But was this tree here when we came, or did it sprout and grow afterwards?” The other sage shrugged his shoulders: “Why, I believe it came here with us.”