The title character and protagonist of the story is a small fir tree who is incapable of living in the moment. At the beginning of the story, he is unable to appreciate the beautiful surroundings in which he finds himself because he is always longing for a future when he imagines that greater glories will come to him. In the later part of the story, although the tree still hopes for a better future, he also looks back sadly on a past that he knows he can never recapture.