Unsurprisingly, this treacly parable about George Washington's childhood integrity is untrue and was originally drawn from an aggrandizing biography published by Parson Weems in 1809. Supposedly, as a child, Washington overzealously cut down his father's cherry tree with a hatchet, but after confessing to the deed, was forgiven with the admonition that "honestly is more valuable than a thousand trees."

This one was pretty much made up from whole cloth as a PR gimmick by Washington's hagiographer, near as we can tell.