Tao Bible - Deuteronomy 20:19-20

When thou shalt besiege a city a long time, in making war against it to take it, thou shalt not destroy the trees thereof by forcing an axe against them: for thou mayest eat of them, and thou shalt not cut them down (for the tree of the field is man's life) to employ them in the siege: Only the trees which thou knowest that they be not trees for meat, thou shalt destroy and cut them down; and thou shalt build bulwarks against the city that maketh war with thee, until it be subdued.
~ King James version ~

As Chuang Tzu reminds us, the useless tree may be the most useful of all!
~ possible Taoist alternative ~

Moses tells the people they are not to cut down trees that bear fruit or nuts. Only non-bearing trees can be felled as part of war.

Everything -- regardless of its appearance -- is useful. Even the apparent useless tree can offer us the ability to "relax and do nothing by its side."

If you're interested in reading more from this experimental series, go to the Tao Bible Index page.