A seed, planted in fertile soil. With a little water and sunlight, it begins to grow. At first, it measures maybe half an inch in height, but soon, it’s shooting toward the sky, tall and proud, gazing down on the world below.

Then time passes, and the once-mighty tree begins to wither. It never loses its colossal stature, but the light within begins to dim, and one day, in fifty years or five hundred, the light goes dark, the wood grows stiff, and forever after, when men...