Cherry Trees

In the USA, a cherry tree is featured in a story of George Washington as a boy. In the story he is given a hatchet and proceeds to be boyish with it, hacking at all matter of things culminating in the debarking (or felling in some versions) of his father's cherry tree. When confronted, the young Washington finds it difficult to confess but manages to say "I can't tell a lie, Pa; you know I can't tell a lie. I did cut it with my hatchet." and his father is glad he told the truth and finds this to be more valuable than a thousand cherry trees. The young Washington not only escapes punishment his honesty leads him to become the first president of the USA. Sometimes it is added that Washington learned to "cherish the truth". The story is used to teach children the value of the truth. Ironically, the story is not true, on so many levels. The incident was invented by a bookseller. Children discover that confessing the truth usually does not magically convince their own parents to forgo any sort of punishment. Children also become aware at some point, even if no one tells them, that lying is common in politics while honesty is often punished.