{
  "$type": "site.standard.document",
  "description": "I wrote a little parable about open source, about credit, and about giving things away.",
  "path": "/blog/little-oak",
  "publishedAt": "2024-04-26T10:00:00.000Z",
  "site": "at://did:plc:jbeaa5kdaladzwq3r7f5xgwe/site.standard.publication/3gtfwwbnks225",
  "tags": [
    "open source",
    "giving"
  ],
  "textContent": "In the very centre of the forest, on the first day of spring, a little twig poked out of the ground.\n\nEvery day he grew a little bigger.\n\nEvery day new leaves unfurled.\n\nBefore the end of the summer, he had two little branches, and he was very proud of himself.\n\n'Look at me!' he would shout out to his mummy. And Mother Oak would tell him he was perfect.\n\nIn the autumn his leaves turned beautiful colours and then fell to the ground.\n\nAnd in the winter the snow fell in great drifts on the ground, and he could see the beautiful stars and the bright moon clearly through the branches of the bigger trees.\n\nThe little oak tree was happy.\n\nAnd when the spring came again, even more leaves came poking out, and he started growing even more.\n\nEvery day he grew a little bigger.\n\nBut this year there was something new. By the end of the summer he had two little brown acorns with grey caps on his branches. He loved them so much.\n\n'Look at these!' he would shout out to his mummy. And Mother Oak would tell him the acorns were beautiful.\n\nBut when autumn came and his leaves turned red and gold and orange, and all around him the forest was beautiful with colours, the little oak tree started to feel anxious.\n\nAnd when he started seeing the other trees dropping their acorns to the ground it got even worse.\n\nEvery day he held on tighter and tighter to his little acorns.\n\nAt night he was afraid they would fall to the ground.\n\nOne day he was very upset, and Mother Oak asked him what the matter was.\n\nThe little oak tree was still very small. He told his mummy why.\n\n'You don't need to worry,' she said reassuringly. 'If you let the acorns fall to the ground, then next year you will have even more.'\n\nAnd so the little oak tree let them fall, and the winter came, and then spring and summer.\n\nAnd the next year the little tree grew even bigger.\n\nAnd every year there were more acorns in his branches.",
  "title": "Little oak",
  "updatedAt": "2026-05-18T10:17:57.927Z"
}