Once, there was a scarecrow, standing proudly in a field, protecting it from the birds. But one day, a storm came. The field flooded, and only the head of the scarecrow was visible.
"Well this is terrible", he thought. When the flood subsided two days later, the scarecrow had been reduced to a few sticks. A flock of birds came to the field. They pecked at the crops until there were none left. Then, even the birds left. The scarecrow was all alone. He sat in the field for years upon years, the farmer who owned it had died a few years back. Slowly, the field became overgrown. A tree took root next to the scarecrow. He knew the tree couldn't understand him, but what else was he to do? He spoke to the tree for hours on end, hoping it'd understand his despair. But, of course, the tree didn't understand a word. But the scarecrow kept speaking to the tree.
"We're not so different, we're both stuck in this field together", he thought. Of course, that was the only quality they shared, but that didn't matter to the scarecrow.
A while later, a group of children came to the field. The scarecrow had not seen humans in so long that he had forgotten what they looked like. The children ran around and played games in the field. Eventually, they spotted the scarecrow and the tree.
"That'd be the perfect tree for a treehouse!", they exclaimed. Planks were carried, nailed together, and mounted in the tree. The scarecrow was concerned for his friend: what were they doing to him? In the end, a majestic treehouse took shape in the branches of the tree. But something was missing. The children searched around the field for something to complete their project, until they came to the scarecrow. A husk of its former self, the scarecrow had been withered down, and was starting to rot.
"This is perfect!", they yelled. The scarecrow was confused: who could find any value in something as worthless as him?
The children took him up into their treehouse. They brought some hay they had found on the ground to the treehouse, and they did their best to reconstruct the scarecrow.
She was happy.